Somewhere a Clock Is Ticking
by HockeyRocks
Summary: A series of oneshots going with the series, starting with Season 1. It's AU mostly Kibbs, but the team is in as well. And of course I don't own any of the characters.
1. Chapter 1 - Additions (Yankee White)

A/N: Okay, so after almost three years since my last story, I´m starting something new. The new episodes caught me again... :) I have already written some oneshots, which go with some episodes and of course they are Kibbs. I hope you guys enjoy them and maybe leave a review.

**Additions**

Episode reaction to 01x01 Yankee White

The brunette woman inhaled deeply to calm herself at least a little and started walking towards the airport´s gate trying to show her self-confidence, despite the unnerving fact that she had just lost her job. Caitlin knew as soon as she left the airport she would be a civilian and if that did not sound bad enough already, she would be an unemployed civilian. At that very moment she was oblivious to her surroundings, since she was already trying to find out where to go from here. The younger woman knew she needed a job, she did not have a husband or even a boyfriend, who could help her out in this situation for a little while and she was way too proud to ask her parents or siblings for help. Though she loved her family, there was no way she would go back to Indiana, where her parents and brothers lived, or to Miami, where her sister was working at the moment.

"I heard you quit, agent Todd?" Gibbs asked casually and showed her his trademark smirk when the brunette turned her head and shot him a quick glance. She did not hear him coming and jumped a little since she was lost in her own thoughts, but right now she did not really care if he saw it or not. Somehow it sounded like he was oddly happy about her decision to leave Secret Service. The two agents finally left the airport and in the back of her head she was still wondering what it was with this man, who certainly had his very own secrets, but at the very moment unravelling Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not her top priority.

"Happy news gets around fast. Yes, I resigned. It was the right thing to do." Caitlin replied sternly and let out a sigh, wondering what was wrong with him that he was so pleased with her resigning. At that particular moment the younger woman was sure that Gibbs would force her to shoot him some day, if she saw him more often. Caitlin mused that she would justify her deed with his stubbornness, or his arrogance, or whatever annoying character trait he had to offer. The now former Secret Service agent was a hundred percent positive that she would find a good reason.

"Yup. Pull that crap at NCIS, I won´t give you a chance to resign." The gray-haired fox just said enigmatically and headed towards the waiting silver Mercedes convertible. He gave the redhead, who was sitting on the driver´s seat, a quick peck on the cheek and the woman smiled, while she put the car into gear. Before Caitlin could recover from her confusion the NCIS agent and his companion were almost out of earshot.

"Is that a job offer?" She asked, but got no reply, like she already assumed she would. If this was a job offer, she would be more than happy to take it. It definitely was not be a decision because of sheer desperation, but somehow the work at NCIS and especially one Leroy Jethro Gibbs intrigued her. His appearance was one of a tough, hard-ass and grim Marine, but there was something in the depths of his blue eyes, which made her wonder what he was hiding, or why he was trying to protect himself from the rest of the world. Maybe she was not only destined to shoot him, but also destined to find out what was behind his stony surface.

Finally Kate fetched her keys out of her purse and unlocked her car, climbing inside. Before she started the engine she rested her forehead against the steering wheel and closed her eyes for a moment. Inhaling one last time she turned the key in the ignition and the engine jumped to life, slowly warming the inside. At that moment Caitlin Todd knew that Jethro Gibbs was special to her in one way or another and she would definitely find out in which way.


	2. Chapter 2 - Feel (Sub Rosa)

Thanks for the reviews, so here ist the next oneshot. I hope you enjoy and leave a review on your way out. :)

**Feel**

(01x07 Sub Rosa)

Gibbs sat in his basement, finally alone with his boat and bourbon after they left the submarine and closed the case. He took the sanding block and checked the sandpaper when the gray-haired man was satisfied with what he saw, he carefully placed the block on one of the ribs and started sanding. As soon as his body was busy with the familiar movements his thoughts drifted off.

_He had relationships after Shannon died, hell he had even remarried, thrice and failed just as often. Everytime one of his mariages or relationships had failed and the women had told him that it was his fault alone. That it was his fault that they chased him through the house with a baseball bat or a golf club respectively or even cheated on him. At one point it was always the same. They told him that he had made them do these things, simply because they felt so alone while he was throwing himself into his work with all the passion they were missing so desperately in their marriage. That was when he decided that he would not marry anyone ever again. Occasional flings kept him entertained and it was satisfying enough for him. Never again he lost his heart to one of them. He lived that way until he met that feisty brunette Secret Service agent aboard Air Force One. It was obvious even to him that the sparks were flying between them. She intrigued him like no other woman had done for quite a long time and he liked to fight with her, after all he felt they were on equal footing and he was sure Kate could stand her ground against him no matter what she wanted. Just like today in Captain Veitch´s office. Sure he could have backed off and taken DiNozzo with him, but he had wanted to take Caitlin with him._

The investigator paused for a moment and traced the wood with his calloused hand, feeling the change after he worked on it. Jethro removed the sandpaper and placed a new piece on the sanding block, before he moved to the next rib.

_When she was pressed flush against him, fear and shock evident on her beautiful face during the emergency blow on that submarine, he had a really hard time keeping a straight face and stopping himself from just brushing his lips with hers. They were so close, their faces mere inches apart and he was still wondering, how exactly he could restrict himself from using their close proximity to his advantage. He knew reciting rule number twelve had not done much to help him, thinking of three failed marriages and many unsuccessful relationships had certainly worked better. In addition, he was her boss and he had experienced that a relationship with a co-worker was not a good idea._

Once again Gibbs paused and sipped his bourbon. Even after years the liquid still burnt its way down his throat, but right now it was a welcome feeling. After all it helped him to abandon his thoughts for a few seconds focusing on his boat and thinking about how far he could progress tonight. With all the fresh experiences from the submarine how her body felt against his, the gray-haired man knew that this would be a long night for sure.

_To be entirely honest Kate was the cause of most of the sleepless nights he had to endure lately. It felt like he had not slept a whole night since he had hired her directly from aboard Air Force One. Either he was dreaming of her in one or the other way, fantasizing about making love with her or how it would be to simply have her in his life, in case she returned his feelings, but at times he even had nightmares about her getting hurt in the line of duty. During some nights he was thinking about what she did or said on the day in the office. There was no way around admitting that he cared for her, much more than for a normal agent and somehow it scared him how she could make him feel, without even knowing it. If she ever said anything about or showed any sign that she was caring more about him or probably even liking him, he knew he would not be able to hold back any longer. For her he would even try to change how he acted in a relationship. It was tough to listen about her newest boyfriend in the office, when DiNozzo was pestering her with his nosy questions about a date she obviously had the night before. _

The pressure on the sanding block increased and with a nasty noise a deep line appeared in the otherwise smooth wood. The agent took a closer look at it and cursed under his breath, maybe he could fix this otherwise he needed to replace the whole rib.

_This was also the reason, why he was trying hard to ignore these feelings at work because he knew he had to focus otherwise mistakes would happen. He also knew that there was no way she would like him, since he was so much older and jaded from his life. The older man was almost a hundred percent sure that he would hurt her in one or the other way, just like he obviously hurt his former wives and scared them away. The realization that she would be better off without him stung deeply, though there had never actually been anything between them except for the occasional stares and the teasing. Because of this seeing her every day at work and knowing that she would never be his was tormenting him. In a way this was worse than the physical pain of being punched in the face or kicked in the gut. He had promised himself at some point to leave her alone for her own sake, even if she would come to him one day. But deep down he knew that was only a matter of time, until she would try to break his guard and he would push her away, hurt and maybe scar her that way. He was caught in some kind of bittersweet limbo of admiring Caitlin Todd and though he was completely aware of it, he did not care one bit about it._

The supervisory agent never felt like he needed a clock down here. During his marriages his wives had always told them when he was expected upstairs, and now his battered body told him when it was time to rest from the physical exertion. Gibbs put his tools away and turned off the light when he left the basement.

_Against all the odds his mind was referring to, his heart still harbored the slightest spark of hope that everything would turn out fine between them eventually. After all it was her smile, which would soothe his troubled mind after they were able to close a tough case. It was also her, who made him believe that even his life was worth living, though it mostly consisted of the work at NCIS, working on his boat at night and the occasional evening at Ducky´s. The brunette was able to give him all these things without even knowing it, and he didn´t dare to hope what she could give him when she actually knew what she was doing to him._


	3. Chapter 3 - Growing Pains(Left for Dead)

**Growing Pains**

(01x10 Left for Dead)

_On the show:_

"_We ought to do something, Boss."_

"_Have you ever made a mistake, Tony?"_

"_According to you or me?"_

"_You."_

"_Yeah."_

"_Could anyone make you feel better?" "No."_

"_My door's unlocked."_

"_I know."_

She had been restless in her own apartment, pacing like a caged tiger. Her restlessness was not at all caused by the physical injuries. As a federal agent she had worse injuries than the cuts and bruises she had acquired today. Gibbs´s reaction or lack thereof was tormenting her, as well as the fact that she had trusted the wrong person, and now her boss had every right to discipline her. Simply because she bonded with Suzanne McNeil because she had seen something in her eyes and got two people killed, though both were guilty of murder. Today she had been totally oblivious to the fact that the woman would not necessarily tell her the truth about how much she actually remembered again. The unexpected and shrill ring of her doorbell pulled her out of her thoughts and made her jump. She had spent the better part of the evening replaying the whole day over and over again to find the point, where Suzanne had started lying to her. Caitlin hurried to open the door, wondering who would come to see her at this time.

"Gibbs?" The brunette asked quite surprised to see her boss standing in front of her, but stepped aside nevertheless to let him in. All of a sudden she felt weary and hoped that he did not want to discuss her mistake right now. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking on my agent." He replied curtly as always and passed the younger woman, briefly brushing her shoulder with his own. Jethro was taking in every detail of her apartment, the picture of her with the president, candid photographs of people, who were most likely her relatives, the furniture and the many books she had in the shelves. It looked feminine, but far from being packed with knickknack and it looked lived in, very unlike his own house.

"Oh." Caitlin stated and deep down she was a little disappointed that he obviously cared about her only in terms of being his agent and not for being the woman she was. At some point during the evening she got really angry at her boss for not warning her that she was becoming too attached to the woman or telling her to stop, though he had seen right through her Maureen-Ingalls-act. After all she was not used to the investigative work yet and she always tended to trust the likeable people she met. "You want some coffee?"

"Sure." He said and the brunette told him to go ahead into the living room, while she fixed two mugs of coffee for them. When she returned into the living room she found him sitting on the sofa, staring at the many pictures, which were standing on the wooden shelves opposite the two-seater. Kate handed him one of the steaming mugs and he gave her a small smile.

"Listen Gibbs, I´m sorry about earlier. I trusted her and almost screwed…" She stopped when he shook his head and set the mug on the coffee table, leaning over to her. Caitlin looked into his eyes and tried to read in them, but he was keeping his emotions in check.

"Rule number six, Kate, never say you´re sorry, it´s a sign of weakness."

"Then why the hell didn´t you stop me earlier? Then I wouldn´t have to be sorry now." The brunette replied and her anger flared up once again. This man definitely knew how to push her buttons, or the second option was that he simply was a bastard, who did not have any sympathy for the people around him. His eyes were still opaque and he was holding her angry glare. Actually he did not want her to be angry at him, he wanted to help her to feel better, but this was something she needed to learn the hard way. The next time Kate definitely would not trust their victim so easily.

"Cases like this one teach you a lot." Jethro said and stopped, smirking when her anger slowly morphed into confusion. The silver-haired man loved that look on her face. Confusion was always written all over her features and somehow he found it was cute, especially when he knew that he caused it. "It´s like growing pains, you´ve got to go through them once in your life to be immune against them. I doubt you´ll trust the people you meet on the next case that easy again."

"But I could´ve ruined the case-" The female agent started and the next thing both knew was that his lips were capturing hers. His large hands were cupping her face careful not to hurt her. Just when they were out of oxygen they parted, still staring in each other's eyes hesitant to say something. He knew this was probably a bad idea, but he justified the kiss with the fact that she had responded to him and did not push him away, slapped him, yelled at him or something in that direction. "Wow, that was…"

"What, dumb?" Jethro suggested and the sparkle left his blue eyes until she smiled at him.

"Well, next time let me finish, okay?" She said and he nodded, the smile returning to his features. "I actually wanted to go for great."

"Boss, you at home?" The Italian called into the dark house and waited for an answer, no matter if it was recognition or rejection of his appearance. When no response came Tony shrugged the duffle bag off his shoulder and went further into the house. "Gibbs?"

"Well, then." He mumbled and climbed the stairs to the first story, easily finding the guest room he had occupied six months ago. Obviously the gray-haired man did not want to be bothered in the basement and Tony knew from the last time to respect this need. The Italian quickly got rid of his clothes and climbed into the bed, stretching his sore muscles after a long day full of work and an uncomfortable night in the office. Little did he know that his boss was not working on his boat in the basement, but was spending the night with his female co-worker.

I hope you like the newest oneshot, leave a review please! :)


	4. Chapter 4 - Jealousy(My Other Left Foot)

Thank you for the reviews first of all! :) Here is the next part, hope you like it!

**Jealousy**

(01x12 My Other Left Foot)

The drive to Melissa Dorn´s house had been rather silent. Kate was still a little mad at the older man because he cancelled their dinner-date the evening before without any obvious reason. Deep down the brunette was afraid that he was second-guessing their relationship and the fact that he did not make the slightest move or acknowledgement towards her today, unnerved her even more. Finally Jethro stopped the car in front of the house and turned in his seat to look at her.

"Watch her body language." The older man ordered and Caitlin just nodded, she knew he would not mention their date until this case was closed. She clearly remembered that they had agreed to strictly separate work and their private-life, otherwise one of them had to leave the team or they had to end their relationship. Since she did not want either thing to happen she knew she had to put her feelings aside now and focus on the case.

"What are we looking for, sort of a confession?"

"Sometimes it's not what they say, it's what they don't say." Jethro replied curtly and Kate thought about it for a moment.

"Which translates into, we don't have a search warrant and this is the easiest way in." Since the grey-haired man did not answer her but just got out of the car, she knew that she was right and also climbed out of the car. Caitlin closed the door behind her and glanced at her boss, who was looking up at the tree in front of them. "What´s wrong?"

"You know what kind of tree this is?"

"Botany was my weakest subject." The brunette replied and watched him skeptically while he bagged one of the tree´s seeds.

"Sycamore." The older man replied simply and the small bag vanished into one of the big pockets of his brown coat. Kate followed him towards the house and the supervisory agent knocked. A second later the door was opened and a redhead with striking blue eyes appeared in the threshold.

"Hi. Can I help you?"

"You already have." Jethro replied charmingly and Kate thought for a second that she was going to be sick. Once again she controlled her emotions, though she could not help but shoot him a skeptical look. Melissa asked them friendly to come in and the agents followed her into the living room. The red-haired woman sat down on one of the two-seaters while the agents took the other.

"You would have liked Tom. He was the life of the party." Melissa started a tentative conversation and Kate could not help but notice Gibbs's friendly expression. Somehow it set her off, he was never like that when they were interrogating a possible suspect.

"He was your half-brother." Kate stated, jumping in before Melissa could continue.

"Yeah. We were raised by our father. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" The redhead asked and smiled at the grey-haired man again, completely ignoring the female agent.

"No."

"An only child? I figured as much." Melissa replied still smiling and the brunette was once again hit by a wave nausea, caused by the woman´s pathetic flirt.

"Hmm. How so?" The investigator asked and straightened his back, smirking back at their suspect.

"You have all the classic traits of a first born; confident, and pays attention to detail, perfectionist, difficulty sharing." Melissa explained and Gibbs nodded, also Kate had to agree to her this time.

"Guilty, guilty, guilty." Jethro just said with a slight grin and nodded.

"Hmm. So why the visit after two years?"

"We´re working on another case. There might be a tenuous connection." Kate replied, glad that they would finally talk about the case now and Melissa would hopefully stop drooling at her boyfriend or whatever he was for her right now.

"How can I help?" The red-haired woman asked and really looked at the female agent for the first time.

"Do you have any of your brother´s personal belongings?" The brunette asked and Melissa thought about it for a moment.

"Anything that I didn´t donate I threw away. It would have made me sad. Oh, where are my manners? Would you like some coffee?"

"Oh, yeah, I´d love some coffee." Gibbs replied and smiled at the redhead once again, following her into the kitchen.

"None for me thanks." Caitlin stated sarcastically and watched them leave the living room. She knew Gibbs was giving her time to search the room, while he was in the kitchen with Melissa, but still their flirt was bothering her more than she would ever admit. She started searching the living room as soon as she was sure Melissa would not come back for her – not that it was likely that she would tear herself away from Gibbs.

"I like your tattoo." She heard Gibbs say in a flirtatious tone in the kitchen and she shook her head. By now she was really annoyed by the whole situation and slowly anger started boiling up inside her. Still she reminded herself of the case and continued her search, ignoring the conversation in the kitchen. The brunette was just sitting down again when she heard Gibbs again. "Why?"

"Then I wouldn´t need an excuse to see you." Now Kate was ready to vomit by her sweet tone, this was too much to bear for her, though she knew Gibbs was only doing this for the case. But right now she was sure that she needed to talk to him about this. When he was out with Tony flirting to a suspect she could not care less, but doing it right in front of her it was humiliating. The agents went back to their car and Kate could not suppress a remark any longer.

"You weren´t buying any of that were you?"

"Any of what?" Gibbs asked innocently and the brunette could swear that he was deliberately pushing her buttons, and was annoyed by herself that it worked.

"You know, her charm."

"Is it really that hard to believe, Kate that I might be attractive to a woman?"

"That´s not what I meant." The younger woman replied gruffly and rolled her eyes, by now she was sorry that she even started the conversation. Most likely he would want to talk about this later, though he was not much of a talker.

"Did you find us anything that will get us a search warrant?" Gibbs asked and somehow the brunette was glad that the conversation was over.

"Well, she told us that she lives alone, but the toilet seat was up in the downstairs bathroom."

"Oh, you can tell that one to the judge."

"Okay, well Abby found a piece of straw in Dorn´s sock and there is a barn around the back." Caitlin replied and paused for a moment, before she went on. "Okay, I found nothing to give us a probable cause."

"Maybe I did." The investigator stated, while is brunette passenger just looked out of the window, watching the landscape fly by. This was just great, a dead end and his bold flirting, by now she was sure that this day could not get any worse, well at least she thought so, until Tony brought up her tattoo again when they were looking at the map to see, where other parts of their dead Marine had been found.

"Any more tattoos?" Gibbs asked when he entered their cubicle, causing Tony to come back to his new favorite topic.

"Just the rose on Kate´s butt." The Italian replied and grinned at his brunette co-worker.

"It´s not a rose." Gibbs stated dryly and Kate was embarrassed. This was definitely not professional, though DiNozzo must think that it was just the usual Gibbs playing Mr. Know-it-all. She needed a moment to recover from her embarrassment before she could defend herself.

"He doesn´t know. He´s lying just like he did about the Digitalis. Okay, tell them, Gibbs?" She tried for help, but the older man just smirked at them, not bothering to help her out. He would definitely pay for this when they were alone later, right after he promised her that he would not flirt like this with another suspect ever again when she was with him.


	5. Chapter 5 - Blast From The Past (Enigma)

Alright, thanks again for the reviews! :) Here is the next part, I hope you have fun and leave a review on your way out.

**Blast from the Past**

(01x15 Enigma)

The drive back to the headquarters was unusually silent. Even Tony sensed that no matter what comment he would make to lift the mood, it would be met with a typical Gibbs-glare through the rearview mirror, so he just stared quietly out of the window. In the passenger's seat Kate was giving her boss inconspicuous side glances. Though they had not been in a relationship for too long, she could see that the case upset him pretty much. As always he kept most things to himself, telling the team only the crucial things they needed to know. After a few more minutes of driving they reached the parking lot and got out of the sedan car.

"Go home, it has been a long day the paperwork will be here tomorrow too." Jethro stated curtly and the younger agents exchanged confused looks. This definitely was not Gibbs speaking, usually he insisted on finishing everything – even the reports – instantly. Before either Tony or Kate could say something their boss already vanished into the building.

"That was weird." Anthony mumbled and the brunette just nodded.

"Tell me about it..." The Italian just furrowed a brow, wondering why his co-worker was so sympathetic for their boss. Surely he was worrying about the older man too, but he knew as soon as the next case arrived Gibbs would be back to his old self. Together the agents boarded the elevator going upstairs to get their stuff and head home.

"You don't have to worry about Gibbs, Kate, he will most likely spend a few nights working on his boat, drinking some bourbon and doing whatever he does on those occasions." DiNozzo explained, trying to sound cheerful and looked at his co-worker through the mirror. He could only see the side of her face, but what he could see of her expression confused him. "As soon as we have another big case he will be normal again. At least as normal as Gibbs can be."

The brunette just nodded and was quite glad that the elevator opened, letting her get away from Tony. She knew he was just trying to be nice, but she feared that she would let something slip about her and Gibbs. The expression she had seen on Jethro´s face when she asked him, if he knew why Ryan fixated on Lieutenant Cameron worried her. It showed her that there was more to it than he would ever admit in front of the team and probably he would not even tell her. DiNozzo was already gone when she shut her computer down and took her purse out of her drawer. Flicking her lamp off, she walked towards the elevator, almost bumping into Gibbs when the doors opened.

"I won't stay much longer…" He mumbled and closed her hand around something. While she boarded the elevator he went back to his desk without any more words spoken. Inside the elevator Caitlin opened her hand again and smiled when she found a key in her palm. Though she knew he never locked his front door the message was easy to understand. She felt honored that he wanted her to wait for him at his house especially after this case. It showed her how much he really cared for her, though they were in a relationship for only one month.


	6. Chapter 6 - Hesitation (Bete Nôire)

I´m glad you like what I´ve written so far, so here is the next one! :)

**Hesitation**

(01x16 Bete Nôire)

About an hour ago she had picked Gibbs up at hospital, since he could not drive home on his own, and the older man immediately vanished into his basement. The brunette would have followed him instantly to the hospital, but Tony told her that the director wanted their reports as soon as possible and since it would only arouse suspicion if she insisted on it, she obliged. After she and the Italian both finished their reports he had caught her off guard, staring into space in front of her. As soon as the female agent mentioned being so close to the terrorist that she felt his bulletproof vest, she regretted it. Stockholm Syndrome DiNozzo had said, but she had simply put him off, stating that it was not enough time to identify with the bastard. They had been down there only for a little over three hours. But when her co-worker went on, hinting that it could happen on instant just like falling in love with someone head over heels, she suddenly felt exhausted. She still did not figure out why she did not stab him and she did not tell Gibbs about it yet, since she wanted to know for herself what had happened in those seconds when she had the chance to end it. Suddenly Kate jumped violently in the living room of Gibbs´s house, when she heard two shots being fired in the basement and decided that it was probably the right time to check on her brooding boyfriend.

"You okay down here?" The profiler asked and looked down at her boyfriend, leaning against the wooden banister while he was half sitting, half leaning on his workbench downstairs.

"Yeah." He replied curtly and calmly put his gun back on the workbench next to him. Caitlin slowly came down the stairs, but still the gray-haired man did not acknowledge her in any other way.

"I just heard the shots and wanted to see if you needed anything..." Kate said cautiously but trailed off when the older man finally looked at her. His blue eyes were opaque, but his expression told her that he was fuming.

"I need to know the name of this bastard and I need to put a bullet in his head." The investigator finally grumbled through gritted teeth in a dangerously low voice and his gaze hardened. A cold shiver ran down Kate´s spine and she just nodded. Of course she had seen him being mad at someone or about something in the line of their work, but this seemed to be different, and she knew she had to tell him that she could have stabbed the terrorist before he read it in her report. Right now was most likely as good as any other time.

"I had the chance stab him, Jethro…" The brunette whispered and looked away from him, she did not really want to read in his eyes and on his face what he thought about it - or about her.

"What?"

"I had Ducky´s scalpel in my hand and I was right in front of him…" Caitlin started and paused for a moment, still looking down at her hands and avoiding her boyfriend´s gaze. "I had the chance to ram it into his goddamned neck and let him bleed to death in autopsy, but I didn´t… Somehow I just couldn´t stab the bastard…"

Finally she looked up and their eyes locked again. The brunette could tell that he was thinking about what she just said. In his eyes Kate could clearly see confusion and the underlying hatred he felt for the terrorist. Gibbs finally frowned, giving her a questioning look, therefore not needing to voice the question. "I don´t know… I tried to find out why ever since I left autopsy, but I still don´t know what made me hesitate…"

Jethro could clearly see that she was pushing herself too hard to find the answer, and knew that his girlfriend definitely would not find what she was looking for that way. Despite his anger the older agent was sure that his girlfriend would start doubting her abilities, even if she found an answer either one she could accept or not. He took one of her hands with his left and squeezed it, pulling her closer to him. Caitlin just let it happen and leaned into the embrace, enjoying the warmth radiating from his body. "Don´t worry, Katie, we´ll find the bastard…"


	7. Chapter 7 - Comeback (Reveille)

**Comeback**

(01x23 Reveille)

Gibbs exited the elevator and found the bullpen almost deserted. Only the few agents, who were working on really tough cases, were still there behind their desks as well as Tony and Kate. He strode into their cubicle and looked briefly at his girlfriend, who just nodded at him, telling him that way that she felt okay. Except from her split lip and slightly swollen cheek she also looked fine, a little shaken from the kidnapping of course but otherwise physically unharmed. "Did the scumbag show up in autopsy, boss?"

"Yeah." The gray-haired man replied curtly and sat down behind his desk, not even glancing at his senior agent, who just asked him a question. Instead he looked at his screen for a short moment, where the terrorist´s or mole or double agent´s or whatever he might really be was still visible. Out of a sudden he forcefully slammed his fist down on the wooden table top, the anger about the directors´ political decisions flaring up once again. "But the CIA wants us to forget about him. Because they still need him."

Kate and Tony just exchanged a worried glance after hearing their boss´s outburst. The Italian quickly took his stuff and got up, leaving the two alone, he definitely did not want to witness anymore of his supervisory agent´s fits. After all he had to witness enough of them during the time Caitlin had been with Ari, though he would have reacted most likely the same way if it was a member of his team, who was abducted. Little did he know the Jethro did not reacted that way only because the one terrorist he hated the most, got one of his agents again, but his girlfriend. The brunette packed her personal belongings as well, glancing over at her boyfriend again. She only started talking when she was sure that DiNozzo was gone and could not overhear their conversation anymore. "He made fun of all of us, Jethro. Obviously even of the directors of CIA and Secret Service…"

"That´s what is unnerving me most, Kate, he gets away shooting Gerald and me and holding you and Ducky hostage. Hell, he took you twice now and nobody seems to care about that, because he can be useful at some point." The silver-haired agent replied crossly and became even more furious with every word he said. Caitlin grabbed her purse and coat and walked over to his desk, slowly sitting down on its edge. The brunette did not know if it was the right thing to do, after all they were still at work, but he needed to let go of the issue at least for a moment. When the older man looked up at her, putting his hand on her thigh, she knew it had been the right idea. After another moment his gaze softened, but seemed to stay at her lip. "Did Ari hurt you?"

"No, not Ari… It was Bassam. He didn´t believe me that you are my boyfriend, when I told him after you called. When we arrived at the farm Ari was mad at him for slapping me, he even let me punch his own man back." The brunette replied and smiled slightly, but still careful not to hurt her lip any more. She watched Gibbs finally standing up and let him take her hand, gently leading her out of the almost dark bullpen. After all there was no need to stay there any longer, the bastard was gone and protected by the government, so they had no chance at all to touch him. Nevertheless Kate could not get rid of the feeling that her boyfriend would not let go of the Israeli any time soon. "I don´t want to be alone tonight, Jethro."

The couple quickly got into the elevator and Gibbs pulled the smaller woman into his side, kissing the top of her head softly. He felt her relax against him and could relax as well for the first time since she had been kidnapped. Also because the picture from his dream, where she was on a slab in the morgue with a gunshot wound on her forehead, never really left his mind during this time. The last days had been rough on all of them and he was definitely looking forward to going home with his girlfriend, maybe going into the basement for some time to work on his boat. He did not go downstairs too often anymore, only when the brunette was staying at her own apartment for the night, but if he went Kate usually followed him a little later to read or sketch but to his own surprise, he felt even better when his girlfriend was downstairs as well. A feeling he never had when one of his ex-wives came down, if one of them dared to come he would stop working, either because they wanted him to be upstairs or simply because he could not stand being watched by them.

"Did you think about completely moving into the house?" He asked and the brunette looked up at him, a little surprised that he brought it up right now. They had briefly talked about it on the last weekend, but she wanted to think about it for some time, though almost all of her things were at his house by now. After all they were together for only four months now and being together 24/7 would be a whole different thing. Especially because it would mean that they had to make their relationship public at the office rather sooner than later, at least Abby would know it soon since she often came over to hang out with Kate after work and probably Gibbs would tell Ducky. She knew the others had to get to know it at some point, but right now she was enjoying the fact that it was a secret and she had Gibbs all to herself.

"Yeah. I would love to." The brunette replied and smile at her boyfriend, who just smirked back at her, leaning down to give her a slow kiss.

Should I go on, yes or no? Leave a review please.


	8. Chapter 8 - Two Seconds (See No Evil)

**Two Seconds**

02x01 See No Evil (Dialogue taken from the show)

McGee´s POV

"Anyone? And I mean anyone know, when the air conditioner is getting fixed? What about the name of the genius who invented windows that don´t open? And what are we on? A space ship? Windows should open?" I heard Tony´s agitated monologue and from my place under Kate´s desk, I saw him despreately but unsuccessfully trying to make the small fan in his hand work, just by hitting the gadget. I grinned slightly, sometimes he could be like Gibbs especially if something did not work. At the same moment Caitlin walked towards the cubicle, dressed in her usual business clothes. Despite the fact that the heat was unnerving everyone, well except their boss I have to admit, who was still drinking the same amount of coffee as if it was any other day.

"Have you been working out?" The brunette asked in a friendly tone and her co-worker looked a little confused by her compliment. During the cases I worked with them, I often witnessed their sometimes very harsh bickering and only hoped that I would never be on the receiving end when they teamed up eventually.

"All summer long. Thanks for finally noticing." Anthony replied proudly and started to get rid of his shirt, which was wet from sweating and sticking to his back. He was in a muck sweat just like all of us and he looked like he definitely had enough, but it felt like the fact that I was suffering in the heat even more than he did, offered him more than just a little satisfaction.

"No, I mean right now, because you´re sweating like a pig and it´s not very attractive." The brunette reached her desk – the one I was still under – putting her purse on the desk and sitting down, unaware of me laying below said desk. Her chair suddenly stopped moving because it hit my shoulders under her desk and I jumped slightly. A few seconds later she looked down at me and a deep frown appeared on her forehead, which was most definitely not a good sign for my health. At that very moment I was really afraid that she would eat me alive or bite my head off, after all my face was in the perfect position to peek under her skirt, but I could not force myself to look away from her eyes.

"Uh… Morning, agent Todd." I could only stutter while I suppressed a curse. This day could not start any worse. First thing I heard in the morning was that the air conditioning was still broken and would not be fixed at least for another few days and then the people, who were supposed to put the new cables into place in the headquarters, went on strike because of the broken air conditioning. And now I was under Kate´s desk with her sitting right above my face, the worst position I could ever imagine being in, well maybe being under Gibbs´s desk and getting caught was worse. But at least he was not wearing skirts and could kick my ass into the next week at the same time. The only good thing, I could imagine at that very moment was that I would be back in Norfolk as soon as I was done with the cables, hopefully by the end of the day - or sooner.

"McGee."

"Yeah?" I asked hesitantly and flinched under the brunette´s steely glare, which was strongly reminding me of Gibbs right now because it had the same effect on me.

"You have two seconds to tell me what you´re doing down there." Caitlin ordered curtly and I jumped again, since she ruggedly pulled me out of my thoughts about what she could - and most likely would - do to me, if I did not come up with a reasonable explanation. I always thought she was the nice one of Gibbs´s team, since Tony tried to fool me more than only once and Gibbs was just the boss, ordering everyone around. Kate on the other hand always tried to help me, but now she was pretty much like her supervisory agent, scaring me almost to death with her look.

"I´m… I´m upgrading the computer network and uh…" Again I could only stutter and wondered what the brunette was up to when she leaned down.

"Time´s up." The female agent stated and grabbed my ears, pulling me towards her. Suddenly I felt like I was at my grandmother´s again, who used to do this with me as well when I teased my little sister, or she said so at least.

"No, I wasn´t looking. I swear. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! I wasn´t looking… I wasn´t looking… Ow!" Finally I was on my feet and straightened, trying hard to stand Kate´s glare and keep at least some of my dignity, while I could feel DiNozzo´s eyes on me as well. At the same moment Gibbs entered the bullpen, drawing their attention when he stopped abruptly. No, this day definitely could not start worse.

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I hope you liked it, tell me what you think! :)


	9. Chapter 9 - Interactions (The Boneyard)

**Interactions**

(02x05 The Boneyard)

Though they had agreed to be strictly professional at work and did not officially tell the team yet, the signs of their private relationship were there nonetheless, after all they could not keep Katie and Jet entirely out of the office, just like Kate and Gibbs had their respective space while they were at home. But since it was nothing more than the occassional longing glance, when they thought nobody was looking, or the half-accidental touches every now and then during a case it was okay for them. Still it was kind of a miracle that no one of the team-members, who were well trained investigators after all, found out about their little secret just yet. Not even DiNozzo had the slightest idea of it, since he was still trying to pry into Caitlin´s private-life, but she always made sure he was on the wrong track. As long as this and their little private moments did not interfere with their work it was alright, but Abby had asked Kate once, why she was not angry at all when Gibbs reproached her for making mistakes at work like any other agent. The brunette just smiled at her best friend and stated that she had her ways to either make him pay for it, when she felt he had been wrong, or a few times he had even apologized - without her forcing him to do it.

"So?" Anthony asked finally and looked expectantly at his boss. The senior agent knew perfectly well that he was pushing his luck right now, but earlier the new blonde lawyer in the legal apartment accepted his invitation to have dinner tonight and he definitely wanted to hit the shower first. By now it was already well past five pm and the Italian was glancing at the clock nearly every second. His impatience grew especially because the day had been slow, filled with nothing than paperwork and everyone waited for Gibbs to call it a day. On one hand the agents were grateful for that, because the last days while they worked on the Jimmy Napolitano case had been tough for all of them.

"If you don´t stop it right now DiNozzo, I will make sure to get you enough paperwork to stay here for the whole weekend." Jethro threatened in his usual gruff manner and the brunette had to hold back a smile. Also Tim grinned covertly and closed another folder, before the four agents continued their work in silence, but after another fifteen minutes the silver-haired man looked up.

"Alright, let´s call it a day. Go home, the paperwork will be still here on Monday." The gray-haired man said finally and the younger agents quickly grabbed their belongings to head home for the weekend. The bullpen had been already deserted by now and the members of Jethro´s team were the last occupants, like they had been very often.

"Wooho… Have a nice weekend guys. See you on Monday." Tony said smiling broadly and literally stormed off towards the elevator, as if he had to beat anyone to make it there first. Timothy followed his co-worker after a while, wishing the remaining agents a nice weekend too. That left Kate and Gibbs alone in the bullpen, the brunette was gathering her stuff and went over to the elevator as well. The older man followed her suit and in the security of the metal cabin Jethro placed his hand on the small of her back, also looking forward to their free weekend.

"So, do you already have plans for the weekend, special agent Todd?" The older agent asked playfully and leaned down, so he could easily whisper into her ear. He smirked when the brunette shuddered slightly, knowing perfectly well that whispering into her ear had this effect on her.

"Just the usual weekend stuff, boss. Cleaning the house, going through the mail, paying some bills and relaxing of course, an usual weekend… Oh and I have a date with my boyfriend, but nothing too fancy." The brunette replied in the same light tone and turned around so she was facing him, her brown eyes sparkling at him.

"Sounds interesting." The silver-haired agent replied huskily and briefly brushed his lips on hers.

"Mhm…" The soft moan was the closest thing he got to a response, before she caught his lips and deepened the kiss. The `ding´ of the opening elevator doors caused them to part and look straight into Anthony DiNozzo´s shocked features.

"Wha-? Ugh… You and you... Wow... That are pictures I will never forget…" The Italian stuttered and looked down at his feet, for once DiNozzo was speechless and highly embarrassed. When he reached his car a few minutes ago, he noticed that his wallet was still in the drawer of his desk, so the Italian went back into the building. Now he was standing in front of his boss and partner dumbfounded and his mouth hanging open.

"Come on, grow up Tony…" Caitlin said smiling and Jethro headslapped his agent, who was finally able to close his mouth. The younger man turned around and watched them leave, their hands entwined, promising himself to keep this secret. After all he considered his co-workers to be his friends and to him friends were like family, a family you got to choose. Life taught him that friends were one of the most important things and also that some things were not made for gossip, though he suspected that Abby and Ducky probably knew about it already.

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I hope you liked it and maybe leave a review on your way out. :)


	10. Chapter 10 - Family (Terminal Leave)

**Family**

(02x06 Terminal Leave)

Kate sat down and could not stop her thoughts from wandering back to the conversation she had earlier the day with Commander Shields. Her own parents had often told her that the time when she and her siblings were little passed way too fast. Also her brothers and sisters, who already had children, told her the same and she could clearly see what they meant. Every time she visited her nieces and nephews or met them at their parents´ house on the holidays, they seemed to have grown so much in the very little time that passed, which only confirmed what Micki told her as well. The brunette had always wanted to have kids at some point in her life, but there always had been something, which made it impossible either she had no `suitable´ boyfriend or she chose to pursue her career. Now it seemed to be different, she could definitely picture Gibbs as the father of her children and it felt like everything else would just fall into place. Nevertheless she could not let go of some things Shields said to her even hours later.

"_My last deployment lasted for over a year. When I came home my babies… My little boy and girl… Willy wouldn´t even speak to me. And Jen was five inches taller and practically a stranger. The constant moving, the uncertainty, the time away. David does a great job, but it´s too much for him. For all of us."_

They did not have to move across they country or go abroad for months, but still how could they be able to properly raise a baby with their unpredictable schedules? Caitlin never really wanted to stay at home with the children all the time until they were teenagers like her own mother did, but always dropping off her kid somewhere every day, because they had to work – or worse go out of town – did not feel right at all too. This meant that one of them had to get another job, one with regular and predictable workhours, if they ever decided to have children. She loved working in the field with the team and unquestionable it would be a huge sacrifice, but she would do it for her own family in the blink of an eye. Surely Jethro would sacrifice his work as well, but she just could not see him sitting behind a desk all day long and caring for their family alone until she came home. He would definitely go crazy sooner or later, rather sooner.

"_You know… What was my biggest fear in the Navy? This feeling that everything I was fighting for, everything that I wanted to protect… Wouldn´t be here when I got back. And now I´ve brought the war home with me."_

This last sentence had been in the back of her head the whole day. The bastard Ari Haswari had taken her hostage twice and she would never forgive herself, if her future child was hurt only because of her job or what she did to somebody´s relative. This was a possible danger, since they – and especially Gibbs – would have uncountable enemies by now. Being a part of a family always meant security, togetherness and trust for Kate, something she wanted her children to experience too. Additionally something she would never be able to offer them, if she was still working in the field when they were there at some point. Maybe her mother was right in the end, being a special agent of whatever agency was not a suitable job for a mother. Still she had to disagree with her mother that she was able to be a wife and a special agent. Her hand instinctively went up to the necklace, which carried the beautiful engagement ring Gibbs had given her just two days ago.

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A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far, hope you like this one. Happy Easter! :)


	11. Chapter 11 - Broken-Hearted(Heart Break)

meherm: You will read about that proposal in detail later. :)

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**Broken-Hearted**

(02x31 Heart Break)

Kate stood alone in the morgue staring intensely at the dead body on the cold steely slab in front of her. She did not know how long she had been standing there and did not really care about the time that passed. She just stood there looking at the boy´s dead body, a solitary tear running down her cheek. Why was this boy lying there, dead and cold? Why was not she able to save him? Why did he have to threaten Gibbs, causing her to shoot him? Those questions seemed to be the only things she could think about right now and that was also the reason why she declined Ducky´s offer to take her to the opera. On any other day the female agent would have happily agreed and accompanied the good doctor, but today her thoughts were running riot and only going in circles. After a while she subconsciously noticed the soft thud of footsteps coming towards her, apparently she overheard the automatic doors open. Obviously someone decided to get her finally out of the morgue after about two hours.

"Come on I will drive you home... It´s late, Katie..." A male voice told her softly, without any kind of accusations, and she instantly knew that it was her fiancée approaching her slowly. Deep down the agent knew the whole time that he would come down here, looking for her at some point, though he had been harsh with her earlier in autopsy. The brunette could easily picture him at that moment without really using the skills she acquired at work. His expressive blue eyes were displaying a softer shade of the usual deep blue and he was looking at her in a very caring and comforting way right now. Though Caitlin knew he only wanted to help her and be there for her, she remained silent, grieving silently over the boy´s death. Despite the time she had spent down here, staring at the kid, she still was not ready to deal with his concerns about her and discuss whether to go home and stay there for a week or two, or returning to work within the next few days.

Gibbs on the other hand knew that he did not need to say anything to tell her that he was in the same room. By now after being in a relationship for almost one year the couple was quite good at sensing the other one without seeing each other. He slowly walked towards his girlfriend and remained silent when he stepped into her personal space, just standing next to her for a few more moments. The gray-haired man was just watching her, while her eyes were still locked to the boy on the metal slab in front of them. Finally she sighed heavily and forced herself to look up at the older man. Like she already assumed his deep blue eyes did not show the look of concentration or demand like they were always displaying at work, his glance was resting soft and warm on her and he looked genuinely worried about her. After another stretched silence one single word slipped through her lips.

"Why...?" The female agent whispered finally and let her head drop down onto the silver-haired man´s chest, leaning into his warm and strong body. It almost broke his heart to hear the fatigue and sadness in her voice, which was close to breaking, but he knew he would not be able to give her an answer or absolution in any way. Nothing he could say or do would help her to deal with what had happened today, so Gibbs decided to give her the support she needed. Jethro pulled her into a tight embrace and automatically his hand started rubbing circles on her back to soothe her a little.

"It´s going to be hard and it´ll need some time, Katie. It will get better. Just give it the time it needs… Trust me…" He said in a reassuring tone and felt her slight nod against his chest. The brunette sighed heavily and closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on her breathing. The mixture of sawdust and coffee, which was just his unique scent, was utterly calming for her while she tried to clear her thoughts, which were still occupied with what her fiancée just told her.

`Yeah, just give it some time, if it only was that easy...´ she thought and let the gray-haired man lead her out of the morgue towards his car. He helped her climb into the passenger´s seat and drove home. Jethro knew that she was hurting badly over the boy´s death, but he also knew that he could not help her much. Caitlin Todd had to forgive herself and understand that it was suicide by cop. As hard as it might sound it was the simple truth.

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I hope you liked it and please keep reviewing. :)


	12. Chapter 12 - Perception (Doppelgänger)

**A/N: **Thanks for the review. :) Just for this oneshot: Pretend that Gibbs didn't kiss Karen Wilkerson, they were only close to doing it.

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**Perception**

(02x12 Doppelgänger)

"Abbs, do you think Gibbs would ever cheat on Kate?" McGee asked out of the blue and swallowed visibly, when he saw the incredulous look on the Goth's face. Maybe it was not the wisest thing to talk to Abigail about this, after all she was pretty close to both Kate and Gibbs. "Of course... I mean... Of course just hypothetically speaking…"

"No, never ever, Tim, how can you even think about it? Gibbs-man would never ever do something that disgusting... You know what? I´ll just forget that you asked me that question, McGee." The forensic replied harshly and glared at the younger man, who cringed slightly on his stool because of her tone. McGee just nodded hesitantly, but he was still not entirely convinced. Though he knew how well Abigail knew their boss, but he had also seen the flirting going on between the two, when they interrogated a PO in Karen Wilkerson´s office earlier.

"Okay, but all I'm saying is, Gibbs invited her to his basement, Abby, and no one of us was ever invited to his basement… Let alone to his house..." The younger agent said and the Goth rolled her eyes. Slowly she was really getting annoyed by his strange ideas, obviously Tony had a bad influence on him. "And nobody knows what happened there, before he arrested her. I know I'm not the first one to be asked when it comes to reading people, but I know what I saw when we interviewed the PO... He was flirting with her and she was obviously interested in him."

"Oh come on McGee, maybe I should just kick you out of my lab, so I can work in peace." The black-haired woman said and went on shortly afterwards, neither of them seeing Kate entering the lab. "I can imagine that woman was interested in him, I mean come on Gibbs is an attractive man, but if you ask me - what you just did - he just played along with her for the case's sake. Maybe he invited her to his basement, but I´m damn sure nothing happened there, he would never ever hurt Kate and if he ever does, be assured I will take care of him... And nobody will ever find out what really happened, because there´s no forensic evidence."

"Woah, Abbs what is going on, something I should know?" The brunette asked and looked from Abby to McGee the latter looking extremely like a child, who was just caught redhanded, his hand being still in the cookie jar.

"Ugh… No, not really... Me and McGee here were just talking about your fiancée's meeting with Karen Wilkerson..." The Goth said hastily before Tim could say anything and probably put them in a dificult position. A deep frown appeared on her friend´s forhead and Abigail knew she had to explain it now, no matter if she rather kept out of this. "You do know where Gibbs arrested her, don't you Kate?"

"No, I don't know where it happened, simply because I didn't read his report." The brunette replied curtly and the Goth bit her lower lip, exchanging a nervous glance with McGee, who got her in this situation in the first place. If this ended badly for her, the agent could surely brace himself because she was out for payback. "Where did he arrest her, Abby and why is it that important?"

"Well, he arrested her in your basement... And it is a bit strange you don't know about it..." Timothy explained hesitantly and the black-haired woman next to him just nodded. He could feel his forhead getting wet, because he was nervous if Caitlin would turn her anger towards them so he tried to sound cheerful in his next sentence. "But hey, we all know Gibbs has his very own ways to solve a case, hasn't he?"

"Sure he has. I was catching up with a friend from Secret Service last night so I wasn't at home, but he didn't tell me that he wanted to meet Karen Wilkerson." Caitlin replied curtly and turned on her heel, leaving the laboratory.

"Oh no, Timmy I think that went wrong. Why the heck did you had to bring the topic up anyways?" The forensic asked and head-slapped the younger man, who just gave her an indignant look. "Sorry, but I'm afraid Kate will give Gibbs-Man a hard time explaining the whole situation after work..."


	13. Chapter 13 - Where there is love

**A/N:** Thanks again for the review and like I promise here is a chapter about the proposal. Hope you enjoy it and leave a review. :)

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"**Where there is love there is life"**

(Mahatma Ghandi)

(Set between 02x16 Pop Life and 02x17 An Eye For An Eye)

Gibbs sat in his basement and looked at the small velvety box for the umpteenth time. He bought the ring about two weeks ago, but still he did not find the right moment to give it to Kate. It was not that he was insecure, if he wanted to marry her or not, Gibbs definitely wanted to do this. He had not wanted anything as much as this in a long time, but he was still waiting for the right moment. The older man briefly thought about arranging a romantic dinner at their house and asking her then, but that just was not him. Surely he surprised his girlfriend sometimes with a home cooked dinner, once or twice he even bought flowers for her, or they would go to Kate´s brother´s cabin for the weekend. But he just loved the fact that he did not need to play-act anything in their relationship, or that she was giving him a broad hint, like his ex-wives did that way prompting him to propose to them. With Caitlin it was just easy, not like it was in his earlier marriages.

A few weeks ago they had talked about marriage, the supervisory agent could not remember what caused that conversation, but he even told her about his past marriages. They had quickly gotten to the point discussing what they did not want, and Kate had joked that she did not want to be the fifth Mrs. Gibbs anyway. But he knew she wanted to be married at some point and start a family, but he was not sure back then, if he was the right one for that. After all he was almost twenty years her senior and with his meaningful track record, he considered himself to be too old to have children by now, but that was before he met that feisty Secret Service agent. Before she showed him that he could actually be in a successful relationship that lasted, because he did not rush into marriage and probably the most important thing, because she understood his dedication to his work. Jethro never really felt the need to change his work hours in his former marriages, but if they decided to start a family eventually, he was sure he would try to change it.

He heard his girlfriend opening the basement´s door and quickly shoved the box into his pocket so she would not see it just yet, finally looking up at the brunette. "You okay down here?"

"Sure, why not?" The older investigator asked and the brunette slowly descended the wooden stairs.

"You´ve been down here for four hours, and I didn´t hear you working, so I was wondering if you´re alright…" Caitlin replied and he just shrugged, fidgeting with the sanding block, which was laying in front of him. "And you have been acting hinky lately even Abby asked me, if something is up…"

"Nothing is wrong, I´ve just been thinking a lot…" The silver-haired man said sternly and he could see the confusion written all over his agent´s face.

"About what?"

"Mostly about us… And what I want for us…" Gibbs replied slowly and had to stop himself from smirking at his girlfriend´s face. He knew how this must sound, but an idea was forming in his head. "I´ve also been thinking about what we talked about a few weeks ago…"

Kate´s thoughts were racing, while she tried to read in his face or in his eyes what he was up to, but his expression was opaque. She knew he was deliberately shutting her out, after all he was usually an open book for her, unknowingly to him even at work. Of course the brunette remembered the conversation he was talking about, but until now she had considered it to be over and done with. "And what conclusion did you reach?"

His silence did not help much to calm the alarm bells ringing loudly in her head. Right now she was expecting anything and started bracing herself for what might come. Still Gibbs was just looking at her with an unreadable expression and when she thought she could not stand the silence any longer, the gray-haired man reached into his pocket. Kate´s eyes followed his movement closely and she could barely suppress a surprised yelp, when she finally registered what he was holding. "Well, basically that I love you, Katie, more than anything else, and that I want to have a family with you someday… That´s why I wanted to ask you if you want to be the fiftth Mrs. Gibbs."

The silver-haired flipped the box open and looked at his girlfriend, who seemed to be completely taken by surprise. Slowly her eyes left the ring and came up to meet his, before a broad smile appeared on her face and she flew into his arms. They shared a long kiss before Jethro looked down at her. "So can I take this as yes?"

"You think, Jethro?" She replied mocking the sarcastic answer, he often gave when someone stated something obvious. He just smirked back at her with sparkling blue eyes and carefully took the ring out of the box. "Definitely. That´s definitely a yes, I love you too…"

Now, six months later, he was standing beside the altar once again, the familiar tingling sensation was also returning to his body, while he was anxiously waiting for his bride to appear in the threshold of the folding doors of the church. Originally they had wanted their wedding to be small, only with their closest friends and family-members and then have a small reception at Ducky´s house, but especially Kate´s mother had insisted on inviting several people from their hometown in Indiana. Caitlin had told him that she did not really care, if they were there or not, but she also knew that her mother was only caring about their family´s reputation like she always did. Gibbs just had shrugged it off as well, stating that her mother should do it if she felt the need, simply because Mrs. Todd would not cause any more trouble that way.

His gaze was wandering through the church once again, quickly roaming over Kate´s relatives he just met in the past months. They went to Indiana for Christmas to announce their engagement and tell them when they wanted to have the wedding, because Caitlin knew everyone would be there and they did not need to call or visit every one separately then. Her mother and her sister had almost started planning everything right away, until the brunette had harshly told them to stop, because she had already started planning with Abby. A little later she had talked to her sister to ask for her help with some things, but making her swear that her mother would not have a word in planning everything – at least not anymore than she already had.

The team had reacted similar, especially Abby had been ecstatic about the proposal and the following wedding. Kate repeatedly had to tell her how exactly Gibbs had asked her and she had head-slapped the silver-haired man afterwards for being so mean. Tim and Ducky had just congratulated them, being truly happy for their co-workers. DiNozzo had congratulated them as well, but had asked Caitlin in his usual manner, if she would stop working out now and become a `desperate´ housewife, because they were getting married now. Smiling broadly he had ducked the brunette´s head-slap, but his boss had hit him squarely on the back of his head, glaring icily at his younger agent. Anthony had apologized meekly, but his partner had just grinned gloatingly at him, right now she was too happy to care about the Italian´s childish antics.

Finally the music started playing in the church and from then on everything passed like a movie being fast-forwarded, at least for Gibbs. His fiancée appeared finally in the threshold of the folding doors and her proudly smiling father led her towards the altar, shaking Jethro´s hand before he sat down next to Kate´s mother. The gray-haired man smiled happily at her and she returned his smile, their hands joining between them when the music quieted after a while. Still it seemed like only a few seconds passed, while the priest led through the ceremony and delivered his speech, before he heard Kate speak up in a husky voice. "I do."


	14. Chapter 14 - Flirt (An Eye For An Eye)

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, I´m glad you liked the last oneshot. :) Sorry for the delay, university started again and needed my attention, but here is the next oneshot.

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**Flirt**

(02x17 An Eye for An Eye)

"We'd like to look at Horlacher's apartment. Is that a problem?" Gibbs asked and briefly looked at the extremely friendly woman, who introduced herself as the landlord earlier.

"Considering what was in that package? Please do. I see you're not wearing a wedding ring, agent Gibbs. Maybe you'd like to inspect that video with me when you're done?" Robinson replied flirtatiously and Caitlin could not suppress a small smile. They had agreed not to wear their wedding bands at work for the same reason she was still going by Todd. They did not want their private life to interfere with work, though the team knew about their relationship for some time now, it was not necessary that all people they met in their line of work had this information as well. Surely it would prevent some serious conversations at home after work, but it could also be used against them.

Just when Tony told Robinson succinctly that Gibbs was single, the brunette wished they would wear the rings so she would not have to a first row seat again when a woman tried to hit on him. The brunette could have killed DiNozzo right on the spot, but she tried to show no emotion at all, since she was sure that Jethro would never hurt her like this. Flirting was sometimes part of their work, in certain situations even helpful and she could hardly deny the fact that she had not used flirting as well to get information or something in that direction. Nevertheless Robinson caught her off-guard with her next question, when they entered Horlacher´s apartment.

"Now how does a fine man like that stay single?"

"Well, he didn't. He's been married three times." The brunette NCIS agent replied coolly and could not help, but slowly getting angry at her for the way the older woman was ogling her husband, though she knew she had no point in doing so. Caitlin deliberately spared the information that the gray-haired man was actually married at the moment, hoping to scare off the other woman with his impressive track record of failed romantic relationships.

"Hmm…" The black-haired woman replied and sounded as if she would ask for more information within the next seconds, but the NCIS agent started closing the door. Unfortunately Robinson was not getting the hand and stayed in the threshold, so Kate could not close the door without slamming it squarely into the other woman´s face.

"I'll let you know when we're finished, Ms. Robinson." The brunette stated instead and could barely hide her annoyance anymore. It was not only the fact that she had tried to hit on her husband, which bothered Kate, but also the fact that she was stopping them from getting started with their work.

"Okay." Robinson stepped back and Kate was finally able to close the door, relaxing a little when the older woman was finally gone.

"Wow. I'll take the bedroom." The brunette muttered and avoided looking at her husband by striding quickly over to Horlacher´s bedroom and busying herself with looking through his personal things. She knew she had to calm down now and focus on their task, otherwise Gibbs would probably ask her once again, if she really wanted to continue working with him and stay in the team. This was something she definitely wanted to avoid, since they already had a few nasty fights over this issue. Caitlin wanted to stay professional at work, but sometimes she just could not help it, especially because he never felt the need to admit it, when he had been over-protective.

"This guy is already in trouble. Girlfriend's taken over." The silver-haired man stated so everyone heard him, after he briefly looked at the magazines on the shelf and all the other items, which clearly belonged to a woman. In the bedroom the brunette had to smile slightly, amused that her husband still needed to show off his chauvinistic side at work, while he was almost the complete opposite at home. Unlike it seemed to be now, he had told her to leave clothes, toiletries and other stuff at his house early in their relationship, because he wanted to have her around him, though she was not there in person. Once again she told herself to let it go and focus, before she went over to the small bathroom, continuing with her work.


	15. Chapter 15 - Decisions (Twilight)

A/N: Thanks for the review, I hope you like my turn on Twilight. :)

* * *

**Decisions**

(02x23 Twilight)

Gibbs swiftly unlocked the front door and walked into his dark house, watching everything closely for a sign that Kate was still awake. The day had been more than just stressful for him and his team, it felt more like this day came straight from hell. Only a single gust of wind had saved her life earlier by changing the route of the bullet, which practically had her name written on it. He had experienced this phenomenon as well, but only once and back then he had been the sniper, who wanted to tap someone down. She had gone straight into shock and he had quickly brought her back to the NCIS headquarters, so Ducky could check her for any other physical injuries. The gray-haired man had asked his friend to drive her home afterwards and stay with her, while he raced back to his team trying to track down the bastard, who wanted to shoot his wife and kill her in cold blood, only to make him suffer and pull the strings in his sick game. Jethro glanced into the living room, but found it dark and deserted before he went upstairs to check the bedroom, only to find it empty too. He thought about calling Duck for a moment to ask, if something happened while he was out, but quickly dismissed the thought because the doctor would have called him.

Gibbs finally opened the basement´s door and found his wife curled up on the wooden platform, right under the ribs of his unfinished sailboat. She had covered herself and the spot, where she was laying, with the thick blanket she often used when she was down here with him and it looked like she finally fell asleep probably induced by some meds Duck gave her, but the important thing was that she could rest now. The gray-haired man sighed and leaned over so he could lightly touch her cheek. Her pale skin felt a little cold against his warm and calloused hand, but apart from that she looked alright - as much as she could be after almost being killed. He did not mean to wake her but her eyelids fluttered open nevertheless. "Jethro…?"

"I´m here now Katie… How are you feeling?" He asked in a low voice and the brunette blinked a few times to wake up completely, turning around on her make-shift bed, so she could face her very concerned sounding husband. "Did you send Ducky home?"

"Yeah. Two hours after we arrived here, figured that it wouldn´t make much sense for him to sit here and watch me sleep." She replied tiredly and got a small but warm smile in return from the older man. He deliberately spared the facts that several agents had been watching their house during the time she was here and that Ari had tried to kill Abby in the meantime as well. He knew it would only upset her and after all everything would be over as soon as he got close enough to that bastard. The brunette sat up slowly and winced when she moved because of the deep blue and purple bruise on her upper ribs, which reminded her of what else she still had to tell the older man. "I can´t go back into the field, Gibbs… The shooting today could have turned out far worse…"

His brows almost shot up to his hairline in record time and he gave her an utterly confused look, wondering why she wanted to quit working in the field now, after all they had been in other, even worse shootings before. Caitlin knew that her husband´s thoughts must be spinning at the moment and he was racking his brain to find a possible reason for her decision. "Why do you want to quit working in the field?"

"Here…" She said calmly and handed her husband the small sheet of paper, which had been safely tucked under her blanket, so it would not crumple. "I just found out and wanted to tell you immediately, but well Ari kinda got in my way…"

Kate watched him for a moment, while he was staring intently at the black and white ultrasound picture of an approximately two-months-old embryo. Their baby, they could hold in about seven months. After a minute he looked up at her with wide blue eyes. Those cerulean blue eyes she loved so much and just hoped that their child would have them as well. "But why did you jump in front of that first bullet, when you already knew about our baby?"

"It was a reflex... I was trained to do this for years... And... And I wouldn´t want to raise that child without you." She said in a quiet voice and hung her head, refusing to look into his eyes. The female agent did not really want to see the accusation and anger in them as she guessed it would be visible there. Caitlin just lifted her head when she was forced to, because he cupped her cheeks with his hands to kiss her.

"Thank you Katie…"

"Thanks for what?" She asked and suddenly looked a little groggy at him, because Donald´s medication was still tiring her out.

"Just for everything you give me and most important for our baby." The silver-haired agent said and pulled her smaller frame into him, finally picking her up to carry her upstairs to get a proper rest in their bed. Gibbs noticed that his wife was already asleep when closed the basement´s door with his foot behind them. Carefully he laid the brunette down on their bed and stripped off his own clothes, joining her in their bed barely a minute later. After all the day turned out better than he thought, the only thing he still needed to move on was having Ari dead on a slab in autopsy, and Jethro promised himself that he would protect Kate and their child with his life if necessary.


	16. Chapter 16 - Goodby (Kill Ari)

**Goodbye**

(03x01 Kill Ari Part I)

It had been raining the past few days in Washington, but the team was nevertheless trying to track down the terrorist, who almost killed one of their own. Gibbs had been at the NCIS headquarters for most of the time, despite the fact he and his wife had to celebrate something wonderful, but first he just had to make sure everyone was safe and the bastard could not hurt anyone anymore. They agreed to keep the news to themselves for now, though Caitlin had to go and see the director today, trying to figure out what she would do until she went on maternity leave, since she could not go into the field anymore. Additionally Ducky knew already about their baby, since had been the one to check on her after the shooting with Ari and taken her home afterwards, but even telling Abby had to wait until the brunette had talked to the director.

"_Why me, Gibbs?"_ Gibbs heard his wife ask crossly from somewhere, he could not see her yet but when she stepped into his view he jumped violently. She was still wearing her bulletproof vest and radio, along with the black NCIS jacket, like she had when Ari tried to shoot her, but what really set him off was the black gaping bullet hole on her usually smooth forehead. Before he could say anything or even recover from his shock, the brunette continued talking angrily. _"Wasn't stopping one bullet enough for you?"_

Instead of replying Jethro could only shake his head, which seemed to infuriate her even more. _"Why did I have to take two?"_

"_I-I don't know."_ The silver-haired man stuttered and watched the agent walking towards his desk.

"_You don't know? Come on, Gibbs. What's that famous gut tell you?"_ Kate asked in a tone, which did not fail to show her disbelief, while Gibbs´ eyes darted back and forth while he was searching for an answer. Obviously this was not satisfying the brunette and this time she was yelling at her husband. _"Why did I die instead of you? No, why did we die instead of you?"_

The question was left hanging in the air unanswered, because the elevator opened with its usual `ding´ and Gibbs jerked awake. The image of Kate was suddenly gone, leaving Gibbs alone in the office, only to notice that he was covered in cold sweat and felt like he had been to hell and back. The older agent quickly rubbed his face to wipe the sweat away and tried to look as always when Dinozzo and McGee stepped off the elevator, walking businesslike over towards Gibbs.

"Found Ari's sniper's nest, Boss." DiNozzo stated before his younger co-worker jumped in.

"Roof of the abandoned office building to the east."

Tony took an evidence bag from the inner pocket of his jacket before addressing his supervisory agent again. "Didn't police his brass."

Finally Gibbs looked up and took the evidence bag from his senior agent. It contained three spent casings in individual jars, one of them being from the bullet, which was supposed to kill his wife. Still not saying a single word, Jethro circled around his desk to hold the bag under his desk lamp, when Kate descended the stairs from the MTAC area, alive and healthy as always.

* * *

Abby was holding her head in her hands when the brunette entered the lab. She knew that her best friend feared that she would leave the team and NCIS for good after the shooting, since she told her the day before. It had taken some convincing, but after all Gibbs also had a soft side when it came to the forensic, so they agreed to tell her the real reason. When Caitlin found her friend staring at the caricature of herself as a vampire, complete with fangs and batwings, she had drawn a few months ago, she knew it was the right decision.

"You're a mess, girl. Red eyes, no makeup." The brunette tried to use a cheery tone and knew it was the right thing when Abby smiled and came over to hug her tightly for a moment. "Remember when we first met? I couldn't believe you were a forensic scientist. I thought Goths had bats for pets, or vice versa."

"I really liked to work with you, Kate. A lot." The forensic replied sadly and hesitantly let go of her friend. "I´ll really miss the team…"

"Don't start that again. Where're your pigtails. I love you in pigtails." The agent said smiling and Abigail started putting them in. "That's better. You were persistent, Abs. First the dark lipstick, then the black nail polish. Next thing you know, I have a tat on my bum. That won´t change, we´re still friends and I´m not leaving NCIS. But now I´ve got some news for you, Abbs."

"News? Had enough of them lately." The forensic grumbled, but could not maintain her dark expression when she saw Kate´s smile. "Oh my gosh you´re pregnant? Yes, that´s why you´re leaving the team."

Caitlin only nodded and the black-haired woman hugged her again, smiling now. "Why didn´t you tell me? How are you feeling? When will the baby arrive? Is that why Gibbs is nice? He really confused Tony with that behavior, you know?"

"Guess he did. I found out just the day before the shooting and we did not tell anybody yet, because Jethro wanted to make sure that Ari is gone first, so we´ll let everybody know when everything´s calmed down a little." The brunette explained quickly and paused, grinning at the fact that her friend could not stop smiling. "I´m feeling pretty well, just the mornings are horrible and Gibbs has me checked by Ducky almost every day. So Ducky knows it, too. I´m two months along, so the baby will arrive in March next year and yes, it´s probably a good reason for Jethro to be a little nicer to the people, even to Tony."

The glass doors opened and Tony appeared at the entrance to the lab, immediately silencing the women what earned them a suspicious glance. "What about me?"

Abby stopped smiling abruptly and looked at him, confusing the poor man even more. "Hey, Tony."

"You two okay?" He asked and both women nodded. Caitlin grabbed her purse and hugged her friend for a last time, before she exited the lab, waving goodbye to her former co-workers.

"I´ll be, soon as I tie up my pigtails. There. What can I do for you?" The forensic asked and DiNozzo just shook his head before handing Abby the evidence bag with the three casings.

* * *

Ducky prepared the blood pressure cuff and finally attached it to Kate´s arm, who was sitting on one of the metal slabs. "Thank you again for keeping our secret in front of the others, Ducky. Especially Tony. But I told Abby before I came here."

"Yes, that was an excellent idea. She probably would have gone into depression about you leaving the team. She may know about Ari´s former appearances, but to her it must seem to be a rather usual shooting. Speaking of this lunatic, may I ask you one question?" Duck asked and continued when she nodded. "Why did you hesitate?"

"His eyes. There was something in his eyes that made me not want to kill him."

"His eyes were ice to me." They heard the sound of the door hissing open and Ducky looked back a bit, removing the blood pressure cuff from Kate's arm while Gibbs entered.

"Good you´re already here, Katie." Jethro stated and paused, walking over to his wife to embrace her. "Ari fired into Abby's lab."

"Good Lord." Donald just said and could see that the brunette went pale on instant.

"Is Abbs hurt?" Kate asked concerned, but the gray-haired agent quickly shook his head to calm her.

"It had to come from across the river, from Anacostia Park." Gibbs explained and squeezed his wife´s arm. "No, she's a little shook up. Tony's with her."

"In the lab?" The ME asked while walking to the opposite end of autopsy. Jethro just shook his head and Kate freed herself from his embrace.

"In the squad room, writing up an incident report." Caitlin just nodded and was instantly walking out of the morgue, while Gibbs was still staring at the slab, where Kate had been sitting barely a few seconds ago.

"You should really take her home Jethro." Ducky stated but the agent just smirked at his friend.

"You know how she is, Duck. After all she sent you home on the day when Ari almost got her." The gray-haired man replied and towards the end of the sentence, Donald could hear the pain in his friend´s voice. Nevertheless the ME approached the agent with a bottle of alcohol, pouring the spirit into two glasses. "And it feels like she´s safer around here."

"Well, then to your extraordinary strong wife and your little one." The Scot toasted and Jethro could not hide a proud smile, before his expression turned serious again.

"I've lost men in combat. You hope you won't, you know you will."

"This is different. You didn´t know what was at stake." Donald stated and could tell by Gibbs pained expression that the agent was well aware of it.

"But it shouldn't be. We agreed that nothing would change at work. She knew she had to lay her life on the line." Ducky started to say something, but Gibbs just kept talking as if he needed to get rid of some of his thoughts. "But you're right. It's different, I can´t understand why she took that bullet for me, knowing that she´s pregnant."

"Well, you just said it. You've lost men. Have you ever lost a woman?" Duck chuckled and continued talking at his friend´s frown. "Let's face it, Jethro, you and I are a couple of old chauvinists. Women will never be equal in our eyes until they're equal in death."

"Why, Ducky? Why Kate? Why not me?"

"Well, maybe he meant to hit you." Ducky replied and Gibbs nodded thoughtfully, an idea forming in his mind.

"No. No, him sniping at me means he's after my people. Women first."

Duck nodded trying to wrap his mind around this. "Then he's torturing you. One has to wonder: what made him such a sadist?"

"I don't give a damn. I just want to kill the bastard."

* * *

Kate had been taking her personal belongings out of her desk, when her husband came back with their new director in tow. He introduced Jen and was now leaving again, to introduce her to Abby and Ducky as well. When they were walking towards the elevator Tony peered around the side of his desk at Sheppard's legs, smiling wolfishly. "Your mother should have washed your mind out with soap. Gibbs introduces the new director, and your only reaction is drooling."

"Was not." DiNozzo replied, trying to look normal again, but the brunette grinned since he looked more like a child, who was just busted with the hand still in the cookie jar.

"Was, too. I've always known what you were thinking, Tony." He did not reply, but stared at her instead. "What? Did you really think you were discrete?"

Anthony paused and gave her one of his most charming smiles. "I can't help it. I love women and they love me."

It had been a long few days for everyone, but though he would never admit it McGee was bored. Sure enough he did not want Abby to get hurt in any way, but she had been test firing sniper rifles for what felt like ages to him to find out, which one was used by Ari. Despite the uncomfortable stool, he was dozing off every now and then. _"You were my sweet superhero, Kate."_

In his dream Tim envisioned Kate in a tight black leather outfit, flying into the lab over his head and flipping to land on her feet in front of him on the desk, just looking like a Trinity, who just jumped out of The Matrix. She smiled at the extremely embarrassed agent, who just remembered that she was actually his boss´s wife, and wondered at the same time what his subconscious mind was showing him. _"You're a naughty boy, Timmy."_

"_Oh my God, I'm becoming Tony."_ McGee mumbled more to himself, but Caitlin just giggled nevertheless. She did a back flip off the desk, her outfit changing in midair to become something more like a dominatrix. She was now wearing cop hat and held a leather whip, while the younger man was blushing furiously now. _"Oh, wow!"_

"Wow what?" The forensic asked and put the protective glasses away.

Timothy jumped slightly, finally snapping out of his reverie. "Um, I, um, I-I, um…"

"Stop 'ah-umming,' McGee, spit it out." Abigail said and curiously looked at her co-worker.

"I was, uh, thinking about Kate." The agent replied slowly and stood up, distracted by the Dominatrix-Kate playfully wagging a finger at him. Nevertheless he continued following the Goth in a daze, who just smacked him on the head. As soon as Tim spotted Tony and Gibbs in the elevator he looked around guiltily. If anyone ever came to know about his little dream, he knew he at least had to get another job and a whole new identity.

* * *

As quietly as possible Gibbs closed the front door behind him and sighed, after almost a week of working non-stop Ari was finally dead. The nightmare was over now and he could only slowly let go of the fear and tension, which had been always present during the past days. The older man could not imagine what he would have done, if Ari killed Kate and their unborn child. He was sure he would not recover from losing his beloved wife, his family. Surely the upcoming weeks and months would not be easy for Ziva, but she had earned his trust now, and from now on Jethro would treat her like any other member of his team. After all she had saved his family from the lunatic. Still he was glad that Kate had been with Abby on the evening Ari showed up in his basement, ready to kill him, and he would never tell her. Also the cleaners had done a great and fast job, removing any traces of the dead man from his basement, so she never needed to know what happened down there. The only thing, which counted was that Ari Haswari was dead.

The gray-haired man quickly got rid of his clothes after he entered their bedroom and climbed into the bed, where his wife was already sleeping. "You´re late, Jethro…"

Gibbs just smirked and the brunette curled up against his side. The older man laid his arm around her, pulling her as close as possible, and softly kissed the top of her head. "I know, Katie, but it was worth it. It´s over now, Ducky did the autopsy earlier…"

"Thank God this is finally over…" The brunette mumbled and settled back into a restful sleep.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but life got a little hectic. Hope you like this one, the next will hopefully be up sooner. :)


	17. Chapter 17 - Dedication (Mind Games)

**Dedication**

(03x03 Mind Games)

Gibbs stood in the dimly lit observation closely watching Kyle Boone through the glass, one of the most horrible killers he had ever caught during his long career at NCIS. But he knew he was in charge of the criminal´s sick game this time, since Boone was standing in front of the table in his interrogation room at NCIS, staring hollowly at the mirror. The gray-haired agent was sure all of this was part of the killer´s game and there was most likely more to come. He heard the door open and glanced in the direction to find Ducky entering the room, sporting a serious but worried look on his face. At the very moment the agent knew he was in trouble, after all the ME had been working with him the last time they encountered this lunatic. Additionally he guessed that Duck was worried, because the team was not as calm and professional as always, after their former team mate got almost killed barely a month ago. Still they had no new agent to replace Kate and the fact that Gibbs refused to let Paula use the brunette´s desk did not help much.

"You don't have to do this again, you know." The door fell close and the doctor slowly walked over to his old friend, watching him closely.

"You're wrong, Duck. I do." The silver-haired agent stated gruffly, not even looking at his friend, who just entered the small room.

"He's never going to tell you where those poor girls are." The older man replied sternly and looked at the killer as well. With his physical appearance he looked pretty average, like the man from next door, but looks did not mean anything at all in their line of work. Despite his appearance Kyle Boone was as highly manipulative as intelligent and even Jethro was not immune to it, like he usually was.

"I know that." Gibbs stated curtly and the ME sighed. Donald knew this conversation would not be easy, but he felt like it just needed to be done, since everyone was extremely worried about the gray-haired man. Though Jethro appeared to be the tough former Marine he had always been, Ducky could see that the recent events had taken its toll on the man as well. After all it had been his wife and his unborn child, who were almost killed by a double agent a few weeks ago.

"Then why?"

"Because ten years ago I couldn't break him." The agent replied harshly and Duck could sense that there was also the need for revenge, which drove Gibbs in this case.

Donald slowly shook his head, but the gray-haired man was already glaring at their killer again, who still had not moved an inch, ignoring the medical examiner next to him completely. "No, but you did what no one else could. You caught the son of a bitch."

"I should have killed him."

"And in two days that will be rectified. I'm telling you as a friend. It's time to let this one go. Go home Jethro and help Caitlin decorate the nursery for your little boy. She is really worried about you, just like the others." He knew he must sound almost pleadingly now, but if this was what it took to save Jethro from ruining another promising relationship, because of his work Donald was determined to even plea. Just the day before he had talked to Kate, who called him, because her husband refused to answer both his cell and his desk phone. She was pretty worried and the doctor had tried to calm her, but she seemed to sense that working this case was more than Jethro´s usual dedication, to her it seemed more alike with his obsession to catch Ari a few months ago.

"Not yet, Ducky." Gibbs replied and looked down on the floor. He knew Ducky was right and Caitlin also tried to talk at him, during the short time he had been at home the day before. But he needed to do this, he could not let it go just yet. "I know…"

Ducky knew this was probably his only chance to reach his friend´s conscience. "You already lost one relationship as a result of this case. She was a wonderful girl. And you neglected—"

"She left me, Duck! I didn't leave her!" Jethro replied loudly and his blue eyes were sparkling angrily at the doctor. "And this is different, because Kate knows my work and what it means to me. She would not just leave me, because I spend more time at NCIS than at home for a few days..."

"No! You made it impossible for her to stay and for God´s sake don´t do this to Caitlin! She doesn´t deserve this." Donald stated, but kept his voice lowered. Nobody, especially not Boone, needed to overhear their argument.

"Maybe, but like I said, I´m sure Kate would never do this to me, she knows how I work." Jethro replied and went over to the door, closing it after he exited the observation room. A few seconds later he appeared in the interrogation room and Ducky sighed. He just hoped that Gibbs would pull himself together if not for his own sake, then for Kate´s and their baby´s, but at the same time he feared the worst, knowing what had happened ten years ago.

* * *

Thanks again for reviewing, hope you liked this one as well. :)


	18. Chapter 18 - Insight (Frame Up)

A/N: Thanks or the review and follows. Here is the next oneshot, I hope you enjoy it. :)

**Insight**

(Interrogation-scene in 03x09 Frame Up)

"What is this?" The gray-haired man asked skeptically and accepted the paper Jennifer handed him.

"George Stewart's alias and work address. I managed to find it between kissing asses." The redhead replied in a snarky tone.

"It just proves you should have stayed a field agent." Gibbs said nonchalantly and watched his director leave for a moment, before he fetched his cell out of his pocket. It rang a few times before she picked up.

"Gibbs?" The brunette asked and Jethro was not sure for a moment, whether it was a greeting or a question, but he was far beyond really caring about it right now. At the very moment he was only thinking about what step they should take next to get Tony out of jail.

"It´s me." He stated curtly and glanced at the address on the paper Jen had given him. He knew where the hospital was and he knew it was a rather small hospital, which had obviously taken pity on the man and employed him despite his past. The investigator estimated that he could be there in about half an hour, if he left now to pick Kate up.

"You´ve got news to exonerate Tony?" Caitlin asked and closed a folder on her desk. For her this week had been slow, since there had not been any cases that needed her expertise, so she had mostly finished planning what her replacement had to do while she was on maternity leave.

"I´ve got an address of a man, who has a motive to frame DiNozzo. Are you free to come with me?" The older man asked and ran a hand over his face, before he took off towards the elevator. Since one of his agents was the prime suspect of this case, he needed to make sure they got every possible lead covered and when it came to interrogation, there was no one, who was better than his wife. Abby had said once that she already felt sorry for their kid, since the little one would never get away with lying later on, but Gibbs had just shrugged it off. He was sure if their child really wanted something and asked for it, he could not say no anyways, so there would be no need to start lying.

"Sure, I´ll meet you downstairs in a few." The brunette replied curtly and was not really surprised, when she got no response. At work her husband was still the same former Marine she had met on Air Force One, probably not as harsh as he had been when she was new in the team, but still to the point. During the early stages of their relationship they had agreed that it was necessary to separate their private life and work related issues. This was of course by far easier after she left the team, but Tony had asked her nevertheless, if everything was alright with them when she had worked the first case together with her old team. After she asked him why, he told her that he had expected Gibbs to be different now, but she had calmed her former fellow agent and told him about their arrangement.

Jethro was already standing in the parking lot and waved at her, when she exited the NCIS building. The profiler quickly went over and got into the car, where she received a quick kiss and George Stewart´s file to read it. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Caitlin had a good idea why her husband wanted to question the man. Despite the terrific situation one of their friends was in, she looked forward to questioning a subject again with Gibbs, after all it had been a while, since they had shared an investigation. She had often admired his ability to intimidate people and get them to talk with not much more than his posture and looks.

"George Stewart?" The brunette asked curtly after the pneumatic doors opened and she spotted a man in his mid forties working on a corpse, which was laying on a slab right in front of them.

"Petrie. I changed it legally." The man replied slightly annoyed and briefly looked at the badges, which were flashed at him. "No sailors here."

"Any Jane Does?" Jethro asked and looked into the opened ribcage of the dead man on the slab.

"Always got a couple of them."

"Could we see them?" The female profiler asked innocently and received a nasty stare from the ME. Until now he seemed to be only annoyed by their visit, because they were interrupting him while working, and probably because she used the wrong last name, intentionally of course. But Caitlin was sure her husband would find the right buttons to push, so they could get an insight and see if the man was capable of framing Tony.

"I told you. No sailors here."

"How do you know, if they're Jane Does?" The supervisory agent asked and came up close behind the chubby man, who just continued his task for the moment. Kate could see that his moves became more agitated the closer the agent came to him, but for now she could not see fear or anxiety, which were signs that he was hiding something. Right at the moment it was more annoyance than anything else.

"Look, what the hell do you two want?" George asked finally as if Jethro´s closeness slowly unnerved him and now his patience just snapped, also because of the fact that they did not tell him why they demanded to see the bodies.

"To see your Jane Does." Gibbs replied finally and craned his neck to look over the smaller man´s shoulder.

"Got a warrant?"

"No, do we need one?" The NCIS agent asked and Kate could see in the man´s face that he was close to exploding. Still she could not make out any signs that he was really trying to hide something from them, this seemed more like a healthy sense of self-preservation the man had developed after his last encounter with federal agents, especially Anthony DiNozzo.

"Hell, yes. Now get out." George stated and agitatedly waved at the doors.

"Tony DiNozzo." Jethro said curtly and remained close to George´s ear, while the ME stiffened.

"What'd that bastard say about me now? I was exonerated!" He finally showed his anger at the situation and pointed with a scalpel at Gibbs, but this was obviously a bad idea. For a split second Kate´s hand twitched towards her holstered Sig, but the silver-haired agent just grabbed their suspect´s wrist and easily removed the scalpel from it, putting it on the metal slab. The brunette profiler relaxed again and continued to watch the scene unfolding in front of her.

"How were you exonerated?

"Fourth Circuit Court. It wasn't me that messed up that blood test. I sent it out to a lab." Petrie explained and the agents exchanged a quick glance, probably this would be interesting.

"What's the name of the lab?" The brunette asked and Stewart´s glance flew over to her, but was quickly back at her husband, who obviously posed a greater danger.

"Pemberton Medical Analysis."

"Sure we can't take a quick look around?" Kate asked to diffuse his fear of her husband and get him back on what they were originally doing.

"Not without a warrant! That's what happened last time. Just a quick look around… A few questions, then I'm fired and my life is trashed. Now get out!" The ME almost cried and the duo took off after Gibbs passed chewing gum to him.

Back in the car Kate thought about what she had just seen for a moment. "My bet is on Pemberton Medical Analysis. He hates Tony that´s clear, but he wouldn´t be able to set up something like this, he´s too nervous and not bright enough."

"That´s what I think too." The older man said and paused for a moment. "Do you need to get back to NCIS?"

"Yeah, I´ve got to get my car and have my plans signed by the director. After all I could finish the concept for my replacement." The brunette replied and absent-mindedly stroke her belly. Gibbs caught her movement in the corner of his eye and smiled before he joined Kate´s hand on her stomach with his own. After six months of pregnancy she had finally admitted that she felt fat and missed her slender shape, but to him she could not look more beautiful than she did right now, though he could not wait to finally hold their baby for the first time.


	19. Chapter 19 - Reckless (Bait)

A/N: I´m so sorry for the delay, but I had so many things to do, which demanded my attention first. But I´ve finally found some time to continue this, hope you like this oneshot. :)

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**Reckless**

(03x18 Bait)

"Director Shepard, Doctor Mallard is here to see you." Cynthia said and slowly opened the door just wide enough to peek into the redhead´s office.

"Send him in, Cynthia." The red-haired woman just said and stood up to welcome the elderly coroner, after she put her pen and the papers she was working on away.

When the older man entered she motioned for the conference table and the duo sat down on the more comfortable chairs there. Like she had already assumed Donald wanted to know what was going on in the High School, where Gibbs´s team was currently working. Abby just told him that the team was called to a hostage situation in a local school, but that there was no work for them at the moment. Though Duck loved his work, he hoped that it would stay this way. "Anything new?

"I just got off the phone with DiNozzo. Still no contact." Jennifer replied wearily and shook her head, averting her eyes. The older man could see that there was something she was not telling him right now, but he decided to wait at first to let her go on.

"What exactly happened?"

"Jethro happened, Ducky." The director stated finally and smiled bitterly, before she continued. There was no point in withholding the facts any longer, the ME would get to know about everything at some point anyway, and it was probably better if he heard from her than on the news. "He went in to deliver a sick girl's inhaler, and got invited to stay."

Ducky just nodded and could vividly imagine his old friend going into that classroom not only to save the hostages, but even the kidnapper. "Yeah, but how could he — of course. He probably planned the whole thing."

"Jethro doesn't plan, Ducky. He follows his damn gut." Shepard stated curtly and slammed her hand on the wooden top of the conference table. When she started in Washington she had hoped that Gibbs's reckless actions would be past, but she had learned soon enough that he was still the same investigator she had worked with many years ago.

"Well, it usually serves him well."

"It also gets him into trouble. Never knew how he could act like this, especially now. As far as I know is agent Todd due with their baby in a few days, right?" The red-headed director asked and the older man nodded slowly.

"Yes, but this doesn´t count for him right now, I´m afraid. But I´m sure Caitlin will understand his actions, there is a reason why they are married after all. But you would only be a hindrance down there." Donald answered and hoped he did not go too far with his last sentence, even after half a year he was not sure how much advice the new director would accept from him.

"What makes you think…?"

"You're wearing your sidearm." The older man replied casually and the corners of his mouth twitched, obviously the redhead did not count on him being that observant.

"Gibbs was my partner, Ducky. For a long time. I cannot just sit by here and do nothing." Jenny stated and stared at the medical examiner, but nevertheless he would not budge. She would just cause confusion at the school and he was sure Tony could handle this situation alone. After all the Italian had been Jethro´s senior agent for a few years now and knew how his boss worked.

"Well of course, not. Nobody expects you to do nothing, but Jethro has changed in the past years. Though it doesn´t seem the way right now he is by far more careful, at least usually. He knows what he could lose." Ducky replied sternly and the red-haired woman nodded, slowly getting rid of her weapon again and put it back into her desk drawer along with her badge. She just wanted to call Cynthia via intercom, but at the very same moment there was a knock on the door.

"Director, agent Todd is here." The assistant said and wondered how the director would react. After all she knew that Kate was on maternity leave and expected to be back in a few months.

"Let her in."

"Oh, right, I promised to accompany her to the doctor, if Jethro can´t be there and obviously he won´t be able." Donald explained and the two exchanged a knowing glance. After all nobody could tell how long the hostage situation would last and more important how it would turn out, since Kody had a bomb strapped to his chest. The door opened again and the brunette agent entered the office she had visited the last time, when she told the director about her pregnancy.

"I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to interrupt you director Shepard. But I couldn´t reach my husband and Mr. Palmer told me that Ducky went up here."

"It´s alright he´s stuck in the field on a sensible case. Are you feeling well?" The redhead asked and quickly glanced at Kate´s huge belly. Caitlin laid a hand on top of her stomach and smiled at her boss.

"Yes, it´s just the last check coming up and I really hope it´s the last one. It´s getting harder each day and I can´t wait to finally hold him." The brunette replied and her face darkened, when another thought hit her. "Is Jethro stuck in that High School? I heard something in the radio, though they said that NCSI just arrived but I guess they meant us…"

The director and the doctor just exchanged a quick glance, forgetting that the brunette in front of them was trained to pick up on such subtle things. Her eyes widened and her hand went from her stomach up to her mouth. Donald was the first one to react and motioned for the younger woman to sit down on one of the chairs by the conference table. "You know as well as I do that Jethro has everything under control, my dear. I understand your worries, but I´m sure that he will get out of there in one piece."

The profiler just nodded and stared at her hands for a moment, before she looked up again. "He better does, Ducky. Director I would be thankful to be informed, if anything changes there."

By now her voice was firm again and she seemed to be in control of her emotions again. Jennifer just nodded and watched her get up again, taking Duck´s offered hand, before excusing herself to see her doctor. Obviously the older coroner was right and the brunette understood her husband´s actions like no one else in his team could. If she had been in Kate´s place, she surely would have freaked out and set all plans at nought. The redhead did not know the brunette very well, but slowly she was getting an idea why it was going so well for her and Gibbs.


	20. Chapter 20 - Stalked (Bloodbath)

A/N: So here is another oneshot to make up for the lon wait, hope you like it.

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**Stalked**

(03x21 Bloodbath)

The elevator´s steel doors slid open and the silver-haired man entered the small cubicle. The forensic lifted her head and greeted him with a small smile. "Hey, Gibbs. Did you know that only five of the two and a half million deaths every year occur in elevators?"

"No." The older man replied calmly and sat down next to the younger woman, looking at the things Abigail was holding close to her chest.

"Ziva gave me this. And Cynthia gave me the pepper spray. The knuckles are Director Shepard's." The forensic explained and held up each item. Gibbs could sense her fear and smiled a little, wondering if the Israeli would have given her a gun, if she had a license to carry one.

"No one is going to hurt you, Abby." The older investigator stated and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. It really worried him to see a usually tough woman like Abby sitting in the elevator like a picture of misery, just because some weirdo could not grasp that their relationship was over.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." The Goth replied, but could not hold back a small smile. She always wondered how easy he could make her feel better just by saying something.

"Did it?" Jethro asked and the younger woman could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yeah. Can you say it again?"

"Nobody is going to hurt you, Abbs." Gibbs repeated his earlier statement and gently squeezed her shoulders to reassure her even more.

"Kate asked me to stay at your house, until this mess is over and you caught Mikel." The forensic said and felt the older man shift beside her, so he could look at her. Abby broke the eye contact and looked at the three items, her co-workers gave her earlier, once again.

"Of course you can, if you feel safer then, you´re welcome to stay with us, Abbs you know that." Gibbs said and was a bit taken aback, when Abigail vehemently shook her head.

"I said no…" The Goth trailed off, but continued when she saw her boss' questioning look. "I really don´t want to bother you. I know you were barely at home since Mikel showed up Gibbs-man, and I could never forgive myself, if she or Liam got hurt because of this lunatic. I really don´t want to risk that and I think caring for your little Gibbs-baby is enough, she shouldn´t think of protecting me at the same time…"

"Mawher wouldn´t be a problem for Kate, be sure of that Abbs." The investigator answered confidently and they both smiled, since he was right. Mikel would not last one minute, if the brunette got some time alone with him, especially not when he was threatening her best friend. "Where do you want to stay instead?"

"I thought about that. Can I stay at NCIS until you catch him?" The forensic asked hesitantly and looked up at the investigator again.

"Mm-hmm. I'll move your whole lab into the elevator if it'll make you feel better." He replied jokingly and stood up, exiting the elevator as soon as the doors opened.


	21. Chapter 21 - Recover (Hiatus Part II)

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I know the last two weren´t to kibbsy, but I hope this one makes up for it. :)

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**Recover**

(03x24 Hiatus Part II)

"_I'm not Agent Gibbs! I don't know Agent Gibbs! I don't want to know Agent Gibbs! I want my family._ _I want Shannon. I want…Kelly. I miss them. I miss them so much. Oh, no… "_

Shepard had told her the next day what had happened during the evening when Ducky could finally convince her to go home and get some rest. She was still glad her sister had immediately offered to look after Liam whenever it was needed, when Kate had called her to tell her everything, all in tears. Earlier she had been briefly at the NCIS headquarters, but the whole team was busy, though they had all spared a few moments to talk to her. The profiler had been downstairs in Abby´s lab, when Gelfand had called her and finally allowed her to visit her husband for the first time after the bombing. The past days, while the silver-haired man was unconscious, had of course been taking their toll on her as well as on the team. Ducky had tried his best to keep the worst things from her, but he could not withhold the part with the amnesia. Of course Kate had been really shocked, though the ME immediately told her that it was only temporary, nevertheless it made her nervous and anxious when she drove to the hospital. The brunette hesitantly entered the room and found her husband still sleeping, so she silently sat down on the chair next to his bed. Both Gelfand and Donald had assured her that the burns in his face would heal completely, but this was not what she was primarily worrying about. The older man told her that Jethro did not recognize him and she did not know how she would react, if Gibbs did not remember her.

She tensed when the silver-haired agent stirred, finally opening his blue eyes and looking at her drowsily. "Did Jenny send you?"

"No..." The brunette shook her head and looked down, trying to disguise how much it hurt her that he did not remember her, since it was not his fault but because of his injury. Jethro on the other hand experienced once again a flash of memories.

_In the first scene everyone was cheering for them dressed in their best suits and beautiful dresses, while they were quickly exiting the small church. Her small hand resting on his lower arm and she was giving him a delighted smile. The next scene was a sharp contrast to the first and definitely not as happy, they were standing on a rooftop, in full gear, when a shoot rang out, barely missing the brunette´s head before the scene changed again. The investigator was startled by the memory and his breathing quickened. He found the brunette sleeping under the ribs of an unfinished boat, but when she woke up she smiled at him, though he could see that she was completely exhausted. After the next change he found himself in a hospital room holding a newborn baby with dark brown hair and striking blue eyes. The scene brought a warm and fuzzy feeling to his churning gut and something in the far back of his head came to life again, telling him that he was holding their baby. His dream-self turned his head and found the brunette sitting in a hospital bed, smiling happily back at him._

He finally came back into the harsh reality and found the same woman, but now their roles were reversed and she was sitting next to his bed The older man studied her for a moment and her whole posture was showing him that she was just as exhausted as when she had been under the boat. "Katie…"

The dark head snapped up and he could see that her eyes were shining with tears. Carefully he cupped her cheek with his hand and she smiled at him, but a few tears escaped her brown eyes nevertheless. "Are you alright?"

"I´m now. I was worried about you, we all were." Caitlin replied slowly and he closed his eyes for a moment, nodding slightly.

"When this is over I promise I´ll take some time off, to be with you and…" He trailed off, obviously searching for his son´s name.

"Liam." The brunette stated and the older man nodded.

"There´s still so much missing..." The former Marine said and took the brunette´s hand. He ran his other hand through his silver hair, carefully not to touch the still irritated and reddened skin of his forehead. Kate just nodded and smiled sympathetically, while she squeezed his hand.

"I´m sure it´ll come back. Don´t worry about that now, Jethro." She replied, gathering some of her strength and confidence again. By now she was quite sure that everything would be fine again at some point, after all the blast did not cause any more serious brain damage than the amnesia. Even if his memories were not coming back completely, they could always create new ones and he still had some things like photos and tapes left to remember Shannon and Kelly.


	22. Chapter 22 - Misread (Witch Hunt)

A/N: I´m so, so sorry about not posting earlier... I wanted to do it before my vacation, but there were so many other things to do first. But I promise the next one will be up sooner.

meherm: I never forgot about this Story. ;)

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**Misread**

(04x06 Witch Hunt)

Hollis Mann POV

"Agent Gibbs? I… I've been ringing your bell for the last three minutes." I stated casually and descended the wooden stairs a small smile tugging at my lips, but still Gibbs did not make any move towards me. Obviously it was just like at work, everything was happening on his conditions and when I was almost down, he did not acknowledge my presence. Nor did he show any sign that he did not want me to enter his basement.

"Yeah. Turned off when the baby´s sleeping." Jethro replied without looking up from his work. But still he briefly glanced at the baby monitor, which sat on the wooden platform a few inches away from where he was working.

I nodded curtly, but at the very second I knew that I could barely hide my surprise about what he just told me. As far as I could tell he was most likely talking about a grandchild sleeping somewhere upstairs. To be honest I could not really picture this grumpy former Marine caring for small child, but still this new information about him intrigued me even more. This NCIS agent was an enigma and when we started working together, I immediately felt attracted to him, but also the need to get to know more about Leroy Jethro Gibbs. "Well, the door was unlocked, so…"

"So this would be trespassing, not breaking and entering." The gray-haired man replied and smirked at me, before he looked at still wet paint again.

I followed his look and what I could read there confused me even more. The first letters of the name `Kelly´ were already there in black paint and calligraphical writing. "Uh-huh. Kelly?"

"There a reason you broke into my house?" The investigator asked and by now he sounded rather impatient. I started to feel a little awkward, but just nodded and accepted it that he would not tell me more at the moment. Still I decided to come back to it later on.

"This is a joint investigation. I thought maybe we could share some information."

"Beer?"

"Beer? Uh. Sure." I replied and was a little confused about his sudden hospitality, nevertheless I accepted the bottle from the older man. "I got the results on the swabs from the Toyota. There were traces of diesel fuel and uh… fertilizer. Same thing that McVeigh used to… Blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma."

"Yeah. Guy driving the Toyota was a greens keeper." Jethro stated and sipped his own beer after he put away his brush and the can of paint.

"I know. He's around fertilizer and diesel fuel all day. It was a bad lead. Anything you'd like to share?" I asked and hoped that the agent would have some more leads for the sake of the case. Additionally I hoped selfishly that the conversation would not be over too soon.

"I've got some sardines upstairs." Gibbs replied coolly and I huffed in frustration. Slowly he was unnerving me and I started wondering how long we could lead this investigation together, before one of us will be royally pissed and will refuse to go on like this.

"I meant about the case. But then you knew that. Girlfriend. Is Kelly your girlfriend or wife?" I asked after a moment of consideration, but Gibbs simply shook his head without really answering. "Okay, look. C.I.D.-Intel did a profile on you for me. I know you flaunt authority, especially in front of a female-"

"A female write that, too?" The silver-haired man interrupted me and could not help but smirk self-satisfied at my confused expression. It was obvious that he had counted on something like that and I should have know that he had not missed my obvious interest in his person.

"Yeah. She also wrote you were a sniper, a good one, but your eyesight's shot. You're injury-prone, if not in a state of near death-wish fulfillment. And though you're pressured and impatient, you're also passionate and loyal, in spite of the fact that you don't trust anyone." I paused to watch him closely for any kind of reaction, but his face remained as unreadable for me as always. It seemed like this man was never opening up in front of someone. "You are going to have to trust me."

"Is there anything I should know about you, before we get involved?"

"Involved?" I asked a bit taken aback by his newly found nonchalance.

"In the case." By now I was quite sure that he was well aware about how he was pushing my buttons and I slowly started wondering why exactly he was doing it.

"You can have NCIS-Intel do a profile on me if you'd like." I replied after a moment, trying to sound confident and watched him close the paint-can, obviously setting everything up to call it a night.

"Oh, I could… But I like surprises." The gray-haired man stated simply and smiled at someone, who had obviously entered the basement. I turned around and found a brunette woman standing at the top of the stairs, smiling back at him. "Thought you´d be back later."

"Well, Paddy has to move early tomorrow, so we decided to have a real night out when he´s back. Didn´t know we have a guest." The younger woman said and finally looked at me. By now I was completely confused. Was this his daughter? But as far as I could tell the age gap between them was not that big and they seemed to share something else, something more romantic.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, we share an investigation." Jethro had reached the brunette and kissed her softly, before the brunette turned towards the other woman. "Colonel Mann this is my wife Caitlin Gibbs."

"Kate." She introduced herself and the women shook hands. "Didn´t mean to interrupt you while talking about the case."

"Nice to meet you." I replied and slowly my brain was putting the bits of information together. Finally it told me that it was not his grandchild sleeping upstairs, but his kid – their kid. All of a sudden I felt like an intruder, the whole time I had thought that Gibbs was single since he was not wearing a wedding band. "No, we´re at a dead end anyways. I just wanted to leave."

The brunette nodded and the trio went upstairs and after a quick goodbye I left, still quite confused about what I just saw and got to know about Gibbs. "Tough case?"

"No leads and we´ve got to share with CID. Would be easier without the turf war." Jethro replied and together they went upstairs towards their bedroom. Once again he wondered how he deserved a woman like Kate. In his former marriages he would have to deal with a jealous wife in this situation, but the brunette accepted it that he took home some of his work as long as it did not disturb Liam in any way.

"Can imagine that. Paddy and I thought you might want to join us when he´s back."

"Who´s looking after Liam?" The silver-haired man asked and Caitlin grinned at her husband. He was often looking for excuses when they wanted to have a night out. He was good with Patrick but he had told her that he mostly felt like an intruder between the twins.

"Abby and it´ll be just dinner and a few drinks. I´d say you can do that for me."

Jethro just nodded, knowing that he would lose this battle. "We´ll see."


	23. Chapter 23 - Stubborn Love (Ice Man)

**Stubborn Love**

(04x18 Ice Man)

"_You beat me to the top. You know what that means." Jeanne said and looked expectantly at the Italian._

"_Other physical pursuits? Last one down is on top."_

The NCIS agent was well aware of the fact that he hurt her by ignoring the `I love you part´, but he was still really uncertain where to go from here. This was completely new territory for him. Not that no woman ever told him that she loved him, but deep down he knew that it was a mutual feeling this time. The senior agent ran a hand over his face and was glad that he was alone in the office at the moment, when he decided that he needed some advice. Anthony flipped his cell open and hit one of the speed-dials, pressing the gadget to his ear and listening to the steady beep, which told him that the line was free.

"Hey, are you at home?" The agent asked quickly and continued, when his friend gave him a positive answer and none of his co-workers was returning. "Can I come over? I think I need your help with… Something…"

After another positive answer the brown-haired man finally closed the cell and got up again, heading towards the elevator. A few minutes later the agent started the engine of his beloved Mustang and headed towards Gibbs´s house. The drive mostly went on autopilot, since the way became pretty familiar to him in the past few years. Finally he pulled into the drive-way and the door was opened by the petite brunette, who had obviously waited for him at the window, since she did not want him to ring the bell while her son was sleeping. "Hey Tony."

"Hey Kate. Is Gibbs at home?" He asked hesitantly and calmed down a little, when she shook her head. The gray-haired man still did not know about the assignment the director trusted him with and he intended to go on that way for the next few weeks, though they were suspecting that something was up. Even Kate did not know about it yet and thought that Jeanne was just another one of his random acquaintances, which had become a little more serious by now, but this was simply because he did not want her to keep secrets from her husband.

"He is out with Mike, understandable after what happened to his son." The profiler replied curtly and led her guest into the living room, giving him a scrutinizing look. She could see that it had to be something serious, because Tony looked quite upset. Something she had seldom seen in the four years she knew him, so it had to be about his current girlfriend. "What happened? You don´t look too good yourself, Tony."

"It´s about Jeanne…" The Italian started and Caitlin nodded. He had told her briefly about his girlfriend Jeanne Benoit, so she had been right with her earlier guess. As well as with her assumption that this Jeanne was not just any other girl, but one Anthony DiNozzo – very special agent Casanova – was actually or could become more serious with. "We met at the climbing wall earlier and she raced me to the top. Either way, if I lost or won she wanted me to tell her that I love her."

"And you didn´t…" It was something between a question and a statement, but Anthony nodded nevertheless. "Oh…"

"I just couldn´t bring myself to say it…" He replied slowly and paused for a moment, before he went on. "It´s not that I wouldn´t have meant it if I said it, but it is difficult… I´ve never been at this point before, Kate… Why are you women so god damn complicated?"

He let his head drop back onto the back rest, squeezing his eyes shut and sighed, while the brunette could not hold back a light chuckle. "We aren´t that complicated and this isn´t as complicated as you might think, Tony. It´s just that women tend to voice their feelings and most of them expect it from their partners too, but at the same time they forget that men usually don´t do that, at least not as often as women. In your case there is just one thing you can do now: find out what you really feel for her and then tell her, but be honest otherwise you´ll lose her anyway."

The field agent opened one eye and looked at his friend thoughtfully. "So you mean I just meet her and say `I love you´ case closed, is it really that easy? I´m not entirely convinced…"

"Nope, of course it´s not that easy. Do something she likes, buy some flowers, take her out for dinner maybe something like that, but always remember to be honest no matter what you do that´s the most important thing." Caitlin explained calmly and her former partner grunted something inaudible. "Honestly, I never thought I would have a conversation like that with Anthony DiNozzo one day…"

"Uh-huh… And I never thought you would marry the boss and have his baby one day, but here we are." The Italian said smiling and sounded a little more like himself again. When they heard key being twisted in the lock the NCIS agent straightened, because it was most likely announcing the arrival of Gibbs and probably Mike Franks too. "Thanks for your advice, Kate."

"You are welcome." Caitlin replied and smiled softly at her former co-worker. Since Gibbs´s hiatus their relationship had changed, definitely for the better because he had been there for her. It had already started changing, when she had almost been shot by Ari on that rooftop, but this change was accelerated after the explosion. The living-room´s door was opened and the silver-haired agent was peeking inside, furrowing a questioning brow at Anthony´s presence.

"I just wanted to leave. Good night Kate, boss." The Italian stated and stood up, hurrying to leave the house.

"DiNozzo´s acting odd." Jethro stated matter-of-factly and looked at the now closed front door for a moment, before he went over to his wife.

"Yeah, well he has some trouble with a woman." She replied equally short, offering her husband only a curt explanation in order to maintain some privacy for Anthony. "Where is Mike? I thought he would stay here."

"He insisted to have some time alone and checked into a hotel." Jethro explained and offered his wife his hand. She grabbed the baby monitor and let the older investigator lead her to their bedroom. "I just hope he won´t do anything dumb."


	24. Chapter 24 - Intruder (The Ex-File)

**Intruder**

(05x03 The Ex-File)

A/N: What if it wasn´t Hollis coming into the basement with Gibbs but Kate.

"I would say Abby underestimated Liam a bit. After all he was only crawling the last time she had him over for the evening…" The brunette followed her husband into the basement and was still smiling. After work Abby had happily taken the eighteen months old to spend some time with him, assuring his parents to go out and then pick him up when they were ready. The forensic had been right it was great to go out without constantly having an eye on the active toddler, who loved to explore the area surrounding him. When the Goth had opened the door she had looked a little disheveled and tired, but still she had told them that Liam was an angel. The former Secret Service Agent was too focused on her son grinning back at her over his father´s shoulder to recognize the red-haired woman, who was standing by Jethro´s boat until the gray-haired man started speaking.

"Hello, Stephanie." He said calmly and Caitlin´s head turned around instantly to see, who he was talking to. Of course Gibbs had told her that their current case involved his third ex-wife, but she had just snickered and teased him about being surrounded by exes. Now that the woman was standing in their basement it bothered her and not even Liam´s happy babbling could tear her gaze away again from the woman.

"So you are still not locking your doors, Jethro." The redhead replied and Kate could see her wavering glance travelling back from herself to her husband and son. Suddenly Stephanie seemed to be self-conscious of her situation and stepped away from the boat towards them, stuttering a little when she went on trying to explain her appearance. "Uh... I-I just came by to, um... give you these. I found them in a drawer about six years ago."

"I thought I had lost them." The supervisory agent replied casually and descended the last steps, walking towards his former wife. She handed him the dog tags and smiled at the little Boy, who immediately reached for them. Gibbs let him take them, giving Kate a quick look. He could tell that she felt more than just a little out of place and he could not blame her, he would feel the same if it was her ex-boyfriend standing there without any obvious reason. The former Marine quickly took her hand briefly squeezing it, but the brunette quickly wriggled out of his grasp, reaching out to take Liam.

"I'm going to... wait upstairs for you." She stated and took the Boy, who was still occupied with his father´s dog tags.

"No, no... It is okay. I'm... I'm not staying." Stephanie said hastily and Kate gave her a small smile, but she turned around nevertheless. Quickly she climbed the stairs and talked to her son in a low voice and all they could hear was something about bedtime.

Gibbs watched her leave and cleared his throat, before he looked at his ex-wife again, smiling politely. "I'll walk you out then."

They exited the house in silence and only when they reached her car, Stephanie turned to face her ex-husband again. "Good luck you seem to be truly happy now, though I could never really picture you living that white picket fence dream, but allow me one question."

After the older man nodded his thanks, she went on hesitantly. "I mean obviously I got this wrong, but I thought you were involved with the Colonel. Don´t get me wrong... I don´t want to accuse you of anything, but still I thought there was something between you two."

Gibbs let out a low chuckle and the redhead was wondering what he was laughing about. Either she was completely wrong or it was something else he found obviously amusing. She knew Leroy Jethro Gibbs was a fiercely loyal man, who would never cheat on his wife, but she also knew that he was married to his job, spending more time at NCIS than it was healthy for him or his marriage. "No, there is nothing at least not from my side. I would never cheat on Kate let alone on Liam. I may be a cold bastard, but I´m not and never was a cheating bastard you know that. So now it is my turn to ask a question, why did you quit your job?"

"I'm, uh, I'm moving to Philadelphia. My parents are getting old. And, uh, Shelley had a baby." Stephanie answered and averted her eyes feeling a little uneasy about her question.

"Another one?"

"Mm-hmm. She is a baby factory. It is a good thing someone in my family is. I guess I'm going to be that doting aunt that still looks great in her bikini." She explained and tried to sound at least ironic and not too bitter, but she was sure he caught the tone nevertheless. "Eric and I split up. He told me about his affair with, uh, with Jill. You knew. After all my ranting in your office, you missed a perfect opportunity to throw that in my face."

"I wouldn´t do that to you." Gibbs replied sternly and his gaze hardened.

"No, you wouldn't. It just never seems to work out for me, Jethro." The redhead stated in a soft voice and paused for a moment. "I mean even you with your track record and all found a woman to spend the rest of your life and start a family with."

The gray-haired man nodded and stepped into her personal space, hugging her briefly before he started to speak again. "I´m sorry… Me… Us… Not your fault…"

"It wasn't anybody's fault." Stephanie answered slowly and let him go again. Right now she wondered what exactly made her show up here in the first place. In hindsight it was no surprise that a man like Gibbs found another woman to be happy with. Maybe she had been just sad about her recent break-up and sad about that she could not have him. She climbed into the driver´s seat and he wanted to close the door, but she stopped him. "Well, we'll always have Moscow."

Jethro finally closed the door without saying anything. Stephanie started the engine and drove off, leaving her ex-husband standing on the deserted street. He waited a few moments before he went towards his house again, finding Kate upstairs in Liam´s room, where she changed him into his PJs. Gibbs hugged her from behind and felt her jump a little, but going on with her Task nevertheless. The agent placed a kiss on her neck and smiled at his son afterwards. Liam yawned and rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands desperately trying to hold them open. "I love you, Katie."

A smile graced her features when she turned around holding their son to her chest. She stood on her toes to kiss his lips. "I love you too, Jethro."


	25. Chapter 25 - Fear (Leap of Faith)

**Fear**

(05x05 Leap of Faith)

"What if he pulled you down with him, Jethro?" The brunette asked heatedly and her dark brown eyes were sparkling with a mix of anger, fear and frustration about her husband´s reactions or lack thereof. Gibbs just went on sanding a rib of his boat, seemingly almost oblivious to her pacing through the basement like a caged tiger. "What did you think then? Or did you think at all? That was just reckless and you know it wasn´t necessary."

"You know how I do my job, Kate... You worked for me Long enough..." The gray-haired man replied calmly and switched to a finer grain of sanding paper, before he decided to finally face his wife, turning around on his stool. "It was safe, if it hadn´t been I wouldn´t have done it."

"But what if you stumbled or worse…? I still don´t get why you had to do that." Now she was gesturing wildly and he could tell by the rising pitch of her voice that she was really getting angry with him. "You just can´t do that anymore, Jethro, I thought we had talked about it. If it was still just you and me, okay I could cope but it´s different now… We´ve a little boy sleeping upstairs and I really don´t want to raise him alone, because you fell from a building or something like that…"

"Come here, Katie…" The older man said and motioned for his wife to stand between his legs. He loosely rested his arms on her hips and looked into her still sparkling hazel eyes, a soft smile playing around his lips. He knew that his smile made her even more furious than she already was, but he thought that the brunette was too cute when she was mad, especially when she was mad at him. "Look at me."

Caitlin did what he demanded softly and wanted to pull away, but his playful smile faded. "I get your point, I really do Katie, but I couldn´t let him jump without listening to him. He wouldn´t have listened to Tony, Tim or Ziva, so I climbed on this ledge. Sometimes it´s part of the job and you know that. As well as I always have in mind to be careful, so I come back to you and Liam in the evening in one piece."

"Using guns and saving innocent people is our job, hell even going on ships or planes, but definitely not climbing on ledges, Jethro..." She shook her head slowly and looked him in the eye again, letting out a frustrated sigh. Kate knew perfectly well that he almost always did something, because he was following his famous gut, but this looked more like a kamikaze mission to her. "I was scared like hell, when I saw it on TV earlier…"

"But I didn´t fall Katie, I´m sitting here unharmed, because I knew that I wouldn´t fall." The gray-haired man replied reassuringly and held her gaze, perfectly seeing her fear now. The anger and frustration were mostly gone and she looked quite tired now.

"But what if you fall next time?" The brunette whispered and let her head drop against his, resting her forehead against his. "What are we going to do then, Jethro?"

"There won´t be a next time. I promise I´ll stick to bullets and Kevlar, okay?" He answered and pulled her closer into him, feeling her nod against his shoulder. He brought his hands up to her face and again looked into her eyes. Her eyes were watery but no tear fell yet, cupping her cheeks with his larger hands he leant in to kiss her. "I would never leave you and our boy alone, Katie. You know that you two are the most important part for me in the world. I love you."


	26. Chapter 26 - Drown (Requiem)

**Drown**

05x07 Requiem (300 words drabble)

The fear of losing him was always present when he left the house for work in the morning. She knew just too well that the risk of being shot was a part of the job and she was relatively at ease with that, but the accident today almost sent her over the edge. Barely a month passed since she had seen her husband standing on a ledge, trying to stop a suicidal man and now he almost drowned.

Gibbs told her that he was helping Maddie and she understood why it was so important to him. Not once she had doubted that helping the best friend of Kelly helped him to deal with her death, but at the same time she could see him suffer from the memories. Old wounds were reopened and he spent most of the time he was at home either with Liam or downstairs in the basement, but Kate knew better than to push him into talking to her.

When Tony called her from the hospital, she had turned the baby monitor on and quickly brought it to their neighbor next door, before she went to the hospital as fast as she could – without copying Jethro´s driving style. DiNozzo was already waiting and filled her in with the details. It wasn´t much, but it calmed her down nevertheless and when she entered Jethro´s room she was grateful that he was already awake again and looked quite well after this rough day.

He looked up at her and without any words spoken they understood each other. Though he still looked a little groggy, she knew immediately that he wanted to go home and of course she was more than okay with that, after all it meant finally having some family-time, when no thoughts about work were allowed.


	27. Chapter 27- Unbreakable (Lost and Found)

**Unbreakable**

(05x09 Lost and Found)

A/N: Forget that Gibbs said no when the Lieutenant asked him if he had kids and that´s the reason why he agreed with Jenny when he visited Carson at her house.

Gibbs sent his agents home almost half an hour ago and was only signing the last of their reports. He closed the folder and finally stood up, heading for the elevator. Cases, which involved kids, were always tough for the agents, who were working on them. But this one turned out good, so it was easier to deal with the aftermath or lack thereof. It was already late in the night and the windows of their house were already dark, when he pulled into the driveway, but he had counted on that. When he talked to Caitlin earlier he had told her that he would be home late. As silent as possible the former Marine unlocked the front door and went inside, kicking off his shoes in the hall.

The silver haired man went into the kitchen and locked his firearm carefully in the box. Both agents kept their guns locked in boxes in a kitchen cabinet, so their one-year-old son would not reach them too soon on one of his exploring-trips through the house. They did not want an accident to happen and had the keys always with them. When this was done the older man went upstairs and stopped at the half opened door of his son´s room. He stepped in and looked at the twenty-two-months-old, who was lying on his tummy, breathing calmly. The boy recently started walking and he knew it meant that Kate had to be more attentive during the day.

"Good night Liam… I´m sorry I couldn´t make it home earlier…" He whispered more to himself and stroked his boy´s soft brunette hair without waking him up. "I´ll be here tomorrow."

Two rooms down the hall Caitlin woke up, recognizing that Gibbs was back. Since Liam was born almost two years ago she was a light sleeper, at least when her husband wasn´t sleeping next to her, which fortunately was not too often. He always tried to be home early and let Tony or McGee handle trips they had to make for some cases. A moment later the bedroom door was fully opened and the older man came in as quiet as possible.

"Everything turned out fine?" She mumbled sleepily and watched the gray-haired man undressing himself quickly.

"Didn´t know you were still awake. Yeah everything is fine… Carson´s dad wasn´t guilty, so they could go home." He explained and laid down next to her, giving her a soft kiss on her mouth. "I wanted to be at home earlier, but I couldn´t make it..."

"You know that you don´t need to apologize to me, Jethro." She replied still sounding a little sleepy and the silver-haired man smiled softly at his wife. This was what he had missed in his former marriages, the acceptance of his work hours and the passion he felt for his job. That Kate knew the job as well was a huge comfort for him and she appreciated it that he tried to stick to the regular work hours for their family and was only working overtime when it was inevitable.

"I know, but I think I should." He said after a moment and snuggled up close to her. This was one of the moments, when he started wondering what he did to get another chance for a life, which was worth living and offered more than a boat in the basement, bourbon and an occasional girlfriend.

"As long as you don´t do it every day we´ll be fine." The brunette turned around and kissed her husband again, before she finally closed her eyes.

"Good night Katie..." He said and closed his eyes as well. "And I would be damned, if I came home late every day."


	28. Chapter 28 - Changes (Judgment Day)

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, I´m glad there are still so many People reading and commenting. :)

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**Changes**

(05x19 Judgment Day)

"_Officer David, the liaison position with NCIS is being terminated. McGee... I'm moving you across to the cyber crimes unit. DiNozzo... You've been reassigned. Agent afloat, USS Ronald Reagan. Pack your bags, you fly out tomorrow." Vance said and then turned towards the supervisory agent whose team he had just destroyed. "Agent Gibbs... Meet your new team."_

It had been an exhausting day for Gibbs and he felt worse than after one of those cases, when they camped in the office for the night. The team had been attending Jenny´s funeral just like most of the other NCIS employees and Kate had been there too, but since Leon had already told them that he wanted to meet them in his office right after the ceremony, the brunette left alone to pick up Liam from her sister´s. Finally he pulled into their driveway and locked his car, before he entered the house.

"Mommy, daddy come!" The toddler exclaimed and ran towards his father. Jethro was barely able to put the files, he just got from Leon, on the counter and scooped his son up. The little boy hugged him tightly and Kate came out of the kitchen. She kissed her husband and could immediately see that something was wrong.

"Liam, why don´t you let daddy undress and then we can go for a walk with Toni?" The brunette asked and motioned to take the two-year-old, but the older man shook his head.

"Come on kiddo, we go upstairs, get ready and then take Toni to the park, does it sound like a plan?" Gibbs asked and the brunette child nodded. "Could you put the files into the basement? I´ll tell you about that later…"

"Sure." The profiler replied and went into the basement, while Jethro went upstairs to get rid of his suit. In the bedroom he sat his son on their bed and started to put his clothes into the closet, recognizing that his son was studying him closely through the mirror. The gray-haired man put on a T-shirt and when he could see his son again the boy frowned.

"Daddy sad?" The boy asked and surprised his father.

"Yeah I am…" He just said to see what his son would want to know next. By now he was talking quite understandable and mostly used his skills to ask questions, nagging questions and a hundred of them during a day as Kate often told him.

"Why?" The child asked Jethro picked him up again to go downstairs.

"Because Tony and Ziva and Tim have to go away for some time." The grey-haired man explained curtly and his son just nodded. "But you don´t have to worry about that. Now we want to take Toni out, right?"

"Mhm…" Liam agreed smiling and Caitlin handed her husband the boy´s shoes so he could dress him, only frowning a little since she just heard the last sentences of their conversation.


	29. Chapter 29 - Reunion (Heartland)

**Reunion**

(Set a few weeks after 06x04 Heartland)

Kate looked out of the window and tried to make out as much as possible from the small town, though it was still pretty dark. In Washington it was never really dark, but here were only few streetlights illuminating the narrow streets besides the slowly rising sun. Gibbs had told her a few things about his hometown and his father. When he had returned with the yellow Dodge Charger she had been quite confused, but that was nothing compared to her surprise when he told her that he got it from his father. When they were still working together she heard him say that his father was dead, which was obviously a blatant lie. Of course he had told her that they were going to Stillwater and she knew that it was his hometown. But nothing prepared her for their first conversation after they arrived in Stillwater and he told her that he would be staying with his father. When she saw Tony and Abby on the next day they were acting quite strange and she was just glad that her husband told her about Jackson. Of course Tony pestered her with questions about this new piece of information, but she could not tell them any more after all she did not knew him either. At first she did not really know what she should think about the fact that Jethro did not even tell his father that they were married, let alone that they had a two year old son. When the car stopped she could see the dark windows of Jackson´s general store and glanced at the car´s clock. It was just after seven in the morning and Liam had slept peacefully through the whole drive.

"Let´s go in first. I´ll get the bags later." The silver-haired agent said and the brunette nodded. The older man carefully lifted their sleeping son out of his seat and led the way to the back of the building. Before they could knock the door was opened and Jack stood there, smiling at them and leaning on his cane. "Dad this are Kate and Liam. Kate this is my dad Jack."

"Nice to meet you Kate." Gibbs senior said and hugged her, before he turned towards his son. Jackson was quite surprised, when Jethro told him about his wife and little son before he left after the Lacombe-case. "Come in, I´ve made some coffee."

They quickly went in and when the former Marine wanted to put his son into the bed in his old room, he noticed that the boy stirred and decided to go back to his wife and father. "We there now, daddy?"

"Yes, we´re at your Grandpa´s now." He whispered back to the boy and entered the kitchen again, where Kate and Jackson were talking about something with low voices. The two-year-old smiled at his mother and looked curiously at his grandfather, but when the older man smiled back the toddler shyly looked away. The former Marine sat down next to his father and exchanged a small smile with his wife, while Jack was still watching the little boy. "Look Liam that´s your Grandpa Jack."

The boy´s blue eyes went to Jackson again and this time he smiled at the grey-haired man. "Grampa."

"I´ll get our bags." The NCIS agent said and handed Liam over to his father, who looked a little surprised at first, but took the toddler nevertheless.

"Never thought I would hold a grandchild again." The older man stated and gave Caitlin a weak smile, before he looked at the boy in his lap again. Liam was sitting calmly for the moment, just looking at the stuff Jackson kept on the kitchen counter.

The brunette returned his smile and wondered what had happened between her husband and his father. She had asked him about that earlier, but he had just stopped talking until she approached another subject. "Well, Jethro thought the same… He told me that he never thought he would have another child before we met."

"And now you have an adorable little boy. He looks very much like L.J. when he was that age and I guess he already has a mind of his own. But how did you two meet actually?" Jackson asked and let Liam slide off his lap, so the boy could walk around.

"Oh yes he does… We met aboard Air Force One. I was working for Secret Service back then and protecting the president, when a Navy officer died on the plane and he investigated the case." The profiler explained and stroked her son´s dark-haired head, when he walked up to her and leaned against her leg.

"You protected the president? That´s quite a story you two have to tell." The older man replied, sounding rather impressed, and they looked at the door, which was opened by the younger Gibbs. The former Marine walked over to the kitchen counter and poured himself another cup of coffee, after he placed Liam´s bottle on the table.

"Mommy, me want up…" The blue-eyed boy stated and the brunette picked him up, so he could grab his bottle.

"Yeah. Jethro muscled his way into the investigation and afterwards I started working for him."

"I didn´t muscle my way in, a dead sailor is NCIS jurisdiction." Jethro said smirking and Jackson could see their love for each other in the look they were exchanging. If he could have answered his son´s questions a few days ago, he would have told the former Marine that the anger was gone again. Jack was incredibly happy that his angry teenager got another chance to settle down again after all those years. It looked like he created a good life for him at Washington with a job, which fulfilled him and a lovely little family.

"But you didn´t call him boss, did you? I still can´t believe that they call you boss, Leroy …" Gibbs senior said and shook his head slightly, while Kate just smiled and nodded. "And I thought I taught you to respect a lady…"

Jethro chuckled lowly and Jack still looked a little taken aback, but seemed to recover quickly. Though he was sure there were still many things he did not know about yet, he was quite glad that his son kept his word and called when he was back in Washington. That they were here now meant a lot to him and he was sure that they would stay in touch now, and that it would not be only Kate, who would call or write.


	30. Chapter 30 - Home (Murder 20)

Sorry for the wait, but here is the next oneshot, as always thanks to the reviewers and I hope you like this. :)

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**Home**

(06x04 Murder 2.0)

"Kate?" The silver-haired man called and tossed his keys into the small basket on the cabinet in the hall. "Where are you?"

"Upstairs with Liam." The younger woman answered and not long later she could hear her husband jogging up the stairs, finally appearing in the door of the bathroom.

"Daddy!" The two-year-old stated and wriggled away from his mother, who had been helping him to put on his PJs . Gibbs easily caught the boy and walked over to the brunette, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub and taking the PJs top from her. "I do it."

"Alright kiddo." Jethro replied and smirked at his son´s demand for Independence, while looking at Caitlin with sparkling blue eyes. He put his son on the floor and leaned towards his wife, showing her how much he had missed her in his passionate, but sweet kiss. Gibbs had been barely at home for the last days and Abby crashed on their sofa because of Tommy Doyle the night before, since he did not have much time to spend alone with his family, he was fully content to watch his two-year-old son struggling with his PJs. "Are you alright in there, Liam?"

"Uh-huh…" The little boy answered and finally found the right hole for his head, without recognizing that Kate helped him a bit. "Abbs hewe too, daddy?"

"No she isn´t here, she was only here for yesterday." the NCIS agent answered his child´s question and stroked his brunette head. To him Liam was the spitting image of his beautiful mother except for the undisputable bright blue eyes, though she said the boy looked more like his dad than like her. "But for now it is bed-time for you Mister, isn´t it?"

"Nu-huh daddy…" The two-year-old stated and stuck out his lower lip, successfully creating the same pout Gibbs saw on rare occasions on his wife´s lips. "Mommy can I?"

"What do you want Liam? Do you want to stay up?" Caitlin asked, trying to nudge her son into the direction of speaking in full sentences. The brunette boy on the other hand also inherited a great part of stubbornness from both his parents and remained silent for another moment.

"Yes, stay up mommy?" He voiced his wish finally and tried his best puppy eyes on his mother, who already counted on that.

"No, you can´t because you are going to day-care tomorrow Liam, but daddy can read out a story for you." The two-year-old just nodded and grabbed his father´s hand, effectively pulling the gray-haired man after him into his room. About half an hour of reading later, Gibbs left his fast asleep son and found his brunette wife in their bedroom curled up on their bed, reading a book.

"So am I allowed to stay up a little longer?" He asked and laid down behind her, taking the book out of her Hands, before pulling her closer into him.

"Nope, you go straight to bed, because you skipped another Meritorious Civilian Service Award ceremony." The brunette answered his question and turned around in his arms, watching him pout.

"But I skipped it for a good reason, Katie."

"I´m all ears."

"Well, I wanted to see my son awake for a little longer than five minutes and here comes another reason, I really wanted to spend some time with my beautiful wife." He explained and captured her lips for another deep kiss. "So?"

"Well, I can´t think of a reason against it." The brunette replied smiling and ran her fingers through the short silver hair at the nape of his neck.


	31. Chapter 31 - Doubts (Collateral Damage)

**Doubts**

(06x07 Collateral Damage)

"This whole Langer-thing eats you up alive, doesn´t it?" The brunette asked and leaned on the wooden banister the baby monitor in hand, watching her husband putting all his strength into sanding the still rough parts of the sailboat´s shell. He did not talk much when he came home earlier and almost immediately vanished into the basement after he made a bee-line for his son´s room, got some coffee afterwards and took a few bites of cold dinner.

"_Gibbs." Leon Vance looked up from the file he was reading and glanced questioningly at the gray-haired man who just stormed into his office._

"_I just found out I have been assigned a rookie." Jethro replied and shot his boss an angry look. He was used to standing up to the Director, after all he did it with Tom Morrow, Jennifer Shepard and he did not intend to drop that habit with Leon Vance._

"_It is only for a few days." The younger man said and Gibbs was perfectly aware of the tone in his voice. It was a tone of dismissal, but the field agent did not leave the office even when Leon started reading his file again._

"_I don´t need him."_

"_You need all the help you can get. A bank robbery in Quantico is highly embarrassing." Vance replied curtly and it was obvious in his whole attitude that he did not want to take this debate with his agent further._

"_If we can´t protect our own house, how can we protect the nation?" Gibbs asked sternly and knew that he probably took a step too far._

"_FBI wants to take over. I asserted that Quantico is first and foremost a Marine base and as such, falls under our jurisdiction. The SECNAV backed me. That argument is holding for now, but I'm going to need a quick resolution." The NCIS Director explained and decided to ignore the daring look in the older man´s ice blue eyes._

"Don´t remind me of that…" The silver-haired man huffed and stopped for a moment switching to a finer grain of sanding-paper. He assumed that Ducky called her when he gave him Dwayne Wilson´s file for a profile and he could not really blame his friend for doing that. If he had been in the Doctor´s place, he would have worried about his sanity too.

"You couldn´t know that he was the mole." Caitlin stated and the older man´s head snapped up. He was now looking straight into her eyes and she could see the self-doubts in his blue ones, which was a scaring experience for her in a way. She had rarely seen this look in his eyes and always pictured her husband as pretty self-confident, sometimes even arrogant and now she was confronted with this. "This could have happened with every one of us, Jethro."

"But it shouldn´t have happened, after all I was the one who suggested his transfer…" Gibbs replied and started sanding the rib again, while the brunette slowly walked over to him, sitting down on the boat´s wooden platform, but still leaving him some space.

"_I prefer to choose my own team." The older man stated crossly and he was challenging the Director with an intimidating look._

"_Just like you chose Special Agent Langer? That didn't work out very well, did it?" Leon retorted and Gibbs jaw set while his lips formed a thin line. The African-American reclined in his chair and waited patiently for a reaction of his agent._

"_Want to hear me say I made a mistake about Langer?"_

"_Lot of people made a mistake about him. It's history." Vance replied and looked down, a sign that he knew that he was not innocent on that matter either. He could have declined Langer´s and Gibbs´ request for the transfer, but he did not. After all he made the final decision that the FBI agent could switch agencies and become a NCIS agent._

"_Is it, Leon?" Jethro asked and was now openly questioning the Director with words as well as with his eyes and gestures._

"_Let me know what you think about the rookie."_

"But you aren´t and you will never be responsible for what Langer did after he joined NCIS." Kate stated and the older man snapped out of his reverie, looking at his wife again. She knew that he would not really listen to her at the moment, but she felt like she had to try at least.

"This really made me doubt my knowledge of human nature, or gut, or intuition, or whatever you want to call it, Kate." He said and finally put the sanding block away, fully turning towards the younger woman. The gray-haired man knew that it would not be fair to push her away, when she only wanted to help him and in the early stages of their relationship he had promised himself to avoid this, no matter how far they would make it together.

"Once in a while you start doubting yourself, or your actions, or both in this job." She said and could see the agreement in his eyes and his expression. Ever so slowly she was mastering reading in his face and his eyes, despite him trying to mask his emotions. "You know I did it, when I shot that kid four years ago… I know it is way more unimportant for the whole agency, but still."

"Yeah…" He said simply and took another step to stand between her legs. Gibbs just embraced the female profiler and in the first second she was a little taken aback, but leaned into him, hugging him back. "I´m really glad I have you, Katie…"

"You won´t get rid of me any time soon." She replied and felt the vibration of his low chuckle in his chest. He kissed the top of her head and grabbed her hand, tugging her upstairs.


	32. Chapter 32 - Tears (Dagger)

**Tears**

(06x09 Dagger)

"Come on kiddo you have to sleep otherwise your aunt Abby won´t be happy. Would you do that for me?" The forensic tried reasoning with the Little guy and stood up, so she could finally catch the two-year-old on his sweater, before the brunette child could start another round through her lab.

"Nu-huh..." The boy stated and tried to get free, but when he recognized he could not this time, his blue eyes started to fill with tears in a last desperate attempt to convince his godmother to let him go.

"Hey Liam if you give up now you can have Bert." The Goth replied and switched tactics, trying to bait the small child with the stuffed-animal he liked so much. Liam one the other Hand did not listen to her but kept crying loudly, causing a few agents, who were heading for the Elevator, to look into the room. "Hi nothing wrong here, just go on working."

"Oh honey, it´s okay your mommy and daddy will be back in a few minutes…" The black-haired woman cooed finally and picked the still crying two-year-old up, walking towards the back of her lab where Bert was sitting on the futon. She grabbed the stuffed-hippo and squeezed its middle, letting it fart, which usually made the child giggle, but even that did not calm him much in his overtired state. "Hey Liam did you hear that noise Bert just made?"

Slightly frustrated the Goth wandered back into the larger room of her kingdom and felt relieved, when she saw Gibbs walking through the glass doors. She frowned when she noticed his bandaged right hand and the band-aid above his right brow. "Ouch Gibbs-Man what happened to you?"

"I had to follow Bankston into a bus and he started shooting." The gray-haired man answered her question curtly without further details and looked at his little son, who was staring up at him with watery blue eyes, slowly calming down when he took him from the forensic. "But what happened here, huh?"

"When he realized that Kate left the lab to see you and Ducky there he just started crying and wouldn´t stop." Abigail explained and glanced at the now calm little boy. Liam was slowly falling asleep in his father´s arms and left the Goth wonder why she was not able to calm him, but the black-haired woman assumed that it had to be the strong parental bond the older investigator had to his son. "Where is Kate by the way?"

"She had to go back to the training centre for a moment, but I thought I could release you from taking care of an overtired kiddo."

"Yeah thanks that is very kind of you Gibbs-Man. Usually no problem, but today it was just… I don´t know." The forensic replied and Jethro chuckled, leaning against the table to wait for his wife to show up. If he did not break his finger he would have taken the stroller and left Abby in peace, but right now it was impossible for him to do that or even put his little son into the stroller without risking to hurt Liam.

"Hey Abbs." Caitlin greeted and entered the laboratory as well. Abigail could see that her friend was upset and she knew that it was about the latest events concerning Gibbs. "I´m ready we can leave."

The gray-haired man just nodded and the brunette took the stroller, wheeling it out of the lab right behind her husband. "Bye Abby see you tomorrow."


	33. Chapter 33 - Christmas Presents

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and I´m glad you liked the chapters. Here is a new one and I know it´s incredibly unseasonal, but well I´m just following the plot here. Hope you like it anyway and Keep reviewing. :)

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**Christmas Presents**

(06x11 Silent Night)

"I thought you were joining DiNozzo´s new `family tradition´?" The silver-haired man asked softly and looked at his brunette wife. When he called her after the short conversation with his dad, she had told him that she was at home and they had hung up after Jethro promised that he would be home in about twenty minutes.

"Yeah I wanted to, but Liam was pretty wound up by the whole trouble and I didn´t really want to bother them, so I decided to stay here instead." The younger woman replied and finally closed the book she had been reading to look up at her husband, who sat down next to her. Despite knowing the job she was slightly disappointed that he came back that late after he left early in the morning, right after everyone got his or her presents. "And Tony told me that you wouldn´t be there either, so I thought it wouldn´t be that bad anyway."

The former Marine eyed her closely for a moment and furrowed a brow in question, before he started speaking again. "You are angry because I was gone the whole day."

Caitlin was a little taken aback by his statement and for a moment her face fell, so the grey-haired man could read in her expressions and eyes.

"No… Yes… I mean, well it´s just I didn´t thought that you would really get such a tough case over the holidays…" The younger woman replied hectically and wet her lips, staring at a vacant spot on the wall in front of her. "It is not that I blame you, I know the job after all, but well Liam asked me where you are and I had to tell him `Daddy is at work´, and I can´t help being afraid that I have to tell him that more often in the future."

Kate sighed and waited for any kind of reaction, she expected almost everything from annoyance that she was questioning his dedication to their little family and the following escape to his boat. But she did not really count on how he actually reacted. The silver-haired man leaned in and gave her slow kiss, distracting her from what she had been brooding over the whole evening.

"That won´t happen, Katie. You know the calls will be coming, but nothing what isn´t important enough would get me away from my family."

"That is good because you need to help me a little more with Liam in a few months." She said and watched him frown. The brunette just smiled at him and tried to smooth out the small wrinkles around his eyes. "I have another Christmas present for you, Jethro."

"What is it?" The older investigator asked impatiently and she just took his hand, placing his large paw on her still flat belly. With only so much of that simple gesture he knew what it was and his stern features softened, ending in a large smile. "You mean you are pregnant again, how far along are you?"

"Yes, the doctor told me last week, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to tell you today." She explained and he nodded, still smiling like he was stupid. "About ten weeks, so we probably have junior in August next year."

"That is great." The agent stated and leaned down to capture her lips with his again, showing her how happy he was about the latest news. They never doubted that Liam would get a sibling one day and in fact it was good timing since the older boy would turn three in little less than three months. The brunette finally snuggled up against the older man´s chest after he started the fire again, which had been smoldering in the secured fireplace the whole day.


	34. Chapter 34 Reminiscence

A/N: Hey there, I´m back and incredibly sorry for the delay, I just had to focus on my bachelor thesis for some time, but I never forgot about this story. I also had a tough time deciding what to do with two or three oneshots I wrote for season 6 and finally decided to do a time leap to skip the second half of that season, because they just did not feel good enough to post it here. Anyway I hope this makes up for it and once I´m done with my BA, I promise to post more regularly. :)

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**Reminiscence**

(Set between Aliyah and Truth or Consequences)

Gibbs gave his newborn son and his sleeping wife a quick kiss and left the hospital room silently to go home and have a shower, before he would come back with Liam and lots of other visitors. It had been barely past midnight, when Kate shook him awake, telling him that the first contractions hit and they should prepare everything to go to hospital. He had just nodded and called Abby, who offered to look after Liam, while they were at the hospital, being incredibly glad that his wife was quite calm this time.

When the contractions started three years ago, he had some serious trouble to calm her down and by the time they were on their way to the hospital she was almost driving him crazy, but of course he never told her about that. Six hours later they could hold their little boy and she was slowly calming down again, falling asleep after two hours, while he went for a short walk with their newborn son. A few hours later the team had made their appearance to admire the newest addition to their Family, enjoying every minute of it since he was not able to do that with Kelly. When his little was born he had been deployed and when he really saw her the first time she was three months old.

Abby arrived half an hour later and it was obvious that she had not been sleeping until then. When he entered his house again hours later, the forensic had sprawled out on the sofa in the living room and judging from the silence Liam was still sleeping as well, so he silently made his way upstairs to change. After a quick shower the silver-haired man got dressed again and when he turned around a brunette three year old was standing behind him, rubbing his eyes before he let out a huge yawn. "You go work, daddy?"

"No, I don´t have to go to work today." The NCIS agent replied smiling and picked his son up, after the boy walked over to him and lifted his arms the best he could while holding his teddy close to his chest. "Do you remember what mommy told you about your little brother?"

The toddler nodded slowly and thought about it for a moment. "Yes, she goes to Hospital... And then she comes back with my brother."

"Very good, buddy. Mommy is still at the hospital and after you get ready, we can go there and see them. Do you want to do that?" Jethro asked and the brunette boy nodded excitedly, seeming wide awake now.

"We take the elephant there?" The three-year-old asked and Gibbs nodded. A few weeks ago they had seen it, while they were grocery shopping and the toddler had insisted on buying it for his new brother. The former Marine had just smiled at his son and bought it, but they promised each other to keep this secret, so it would be a surprise. Half an hour later the child was dressed and when they came down a black-haired head shot up on the sofa. The Goth needed a moment to untangle herself from the blanket, before she stormed over to them.

"Are they alright?" She asked excitedly and her smile broadened even more, when her boss nodded. Abigail hugged the former Marine and picked the three-year-old boy up, hugging him as well. "Ow that´s so great, congratulations! A new baby! You´re a big brother now, Liam that´s so cool."

The boy just nodded and looked a little swamped by the forensics' delight. Gibbs just smiled, remembering that Abby had been just as excited when Liam was born as she was now, and quickly prepared some breakfast for them. An hour later they were in Gibbs´s car going to the hospital, after the silver-haired man had called the others and they went back to the house once, because they forgot the stuffed elephant. The trio finally reached Kate´s room and the three year old stormed in, quickly climbing onto his mother´s bed. She smiled at him and briefly kissed her husband, before Abby came over to hug her. The forensic quickly went over to have a look at the newborn, who was peacefully sleeping in his bed. "Oh he´s so sweet and I´m so happy for you Kate."

"Thanks, Abby." The brunette replied smiling and helped her older son to look at the baby as well. A few moments later the three-year-old child turned towards his father and motioned for him to give him the stuffed animal.

"Look mommy, we have an elephant for my new brother. I and daddy had a secret." He smiled up at his mother and handed her the small elephant, watching closely while she placed it in the baby´s bed. Before they could talk more there was a knock on the door and the rest of the team entered, crowding the small room. They all wanted to have a look at the little boy and again Gibbs was reminded of Liam´s birth three years ago, but now the boy was sitting on his legs laughing at Tony´s funny faces.

"So what´s his name? We can´t always say baby Gibbs, can we?" Abby asked after a while and Jethro leaned forward, whispering into his son´s ear.

Everyone looked expectantly at the toddler and he smiled broadly, before he started speaking. "You can call him Noah. And he has another name like me… Kenneth, like grampa Ken and mine is Jackson, like grampa Jack."

The boy looked up at his father and smiled proudly, when the supervisory agent nodded, confirming that he got everything right. Gibbs ruffled his son´s hair and his eyes found Kate´s. For a moment he could read in them and saw that she was just as happy as he was right now, before they turned towards Ducky, who had started another one of his stories.


End file.
